


Of Kittens and human beings

by HienFan



Category: AbalaBurn, Battle Arena Toshinden
Genre: Alternate Universe - Childhood Friends, Anal Sex, Best Friends, Bully, Cameos, Cat Ears, Childhood Friends, Coming of Age, F/M, Friendship, Insecurities, Lemon, M/M, Mention of pegging, Sexual Identity, Slice of Life, Temporary relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-05-18
Updated: 2014-07-01
Packaged: 2018-01-20 09:06:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Underage
Chapters: 67
Words: 122,581
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1504688
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HienFan/pseuds/HienFan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Bullying is an easy thing to trip over and hard thing to get over, still having a few friends could make life a little easier</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I own the bullies in the fic but no one else they belong to Tamsoft/Takara

3/3/2003

I was playing with toys with my brother Jet like every single weekend of my life, I was picking a Princess Daisy plushie while he held a rocket model flying it about.

Mom was watching us, holding our baby sister, Sarah to her chest.

Just then the sound of glass tapping caught our ears.

“Ooo” went a soft girlish voice “Aw so cute they have cat ears!”

We turned to see a girl with short blue hair looking through our window.

Mom got up “Ah visitors!” she said opening the door.

I frowned, I don’t like people in this house…

“Brother?” said Jet.

The girl’s eyes widened, clutching her father.

“Hello there” said mom.

Jet was curious about this girl but I just want her away from this house!

The girl looked at Sarah who was snoring away oblivious to all that’s happening.

“She’s so cute!” she said.

“Would you like to hold her for a while?”

I hunched up, my tail ruffling. What if she drops Sarah!

She looked at Sarah her cheeks flushing red “Ahh she has blue eyes like you!”

“Would you like to stay over for a while?” Mom asked.

“I-I-I…” the girl was stuttering.

“She will stay until after dinner Mrs Fleming” said her father. Whoa he knows Mom?

“Mrs Fleming?”

“We were classmates when we were kids. You should make some friends Ariel.”

“B-but…”

The man hugged the girl “I’ll pick you up early tonight, until then make friends with the boys.”

She approached us trembling.

We looked at her, is she trying to win me out l-like HER and get us to hang out with her little clique?

“H-hello…” she said.

“H-hello…” Jet waved to her, oh no what if she’s going to hurt him!

“Hello…” I clutched my brother’s shoulders, letting out a gasp from him.

“W-what are your names? I-I’m Ariel Vermillion!” she said.

“Jet Fleming” said my brother.

“Kleude…” I released him, glaring at Ariel.

“Do you like to play with dolls?” Jet asked Ariel.

“I love dolls!” Ariel smiled at my brother, following him to the spot where we were playing earlier.

She squealed at all the dolls “Ooo do you two love the Mario franchise?” she asked picking up the Toad and Mario doll “And Pokemon too?” she picked up Pikachu.

“You like them too?” Jet asked.

“I love them!”

I frowned grabbing the Daisy doll and sitting on the cushion.

“It’s okay Miss Ariel, my brother may seem cold around you but he’s very sweet and playful around me.”

He took the Mario doll, putting him on the toy train “Look Mario is riding a choo choo train!”

Ariel giggled, putting Toad near the train “I want to ride a train too!”

Normally I would have joined in but I want this girl out of the house right now…

But if asked her to leave that would be plain rude, I don’t want people around but I don’t want to be mean…

That would be just like Eku…

“What’s wrong brother?” Jet asked.

“Nothing…” I said, just let him enjoy himself for now, if anything happens I will put a stop to it.

“Come join us!” my eyes widened, getting out of the pillow.

I put Daisy on the train, Jet smiling at me, moving the train about “Whee we are on a grand adventure!” he said.

“What’s going to happen?” Ariel asked.

“Hmm I dunno, what’s going to happen?”

“We shall go to the moon and get a moon rock for Pikachu” said Ariel.

“What’s a moon rock?”

“Some item I saw in one manga.”

“Okay!” he lifted the train with both hands so nobody fell off “And the train took off to outer space to find the moon!”

And he swung the train about, I decided to pick up the rocket and began swinging it about to go along with the act.

Jet accidentally bumped on the Poke ball.

“Oh no our heroes bumped into a Voltorb!” he said.

“What’s going to happen?” Ariel asked.

“They have to get rid of the Voltorb, you help them before it explodes!”

“Okay!” she took Toad out.

I took Daisy out while he took Mario out to stab the Poke ball.

We went on hitting the ball like our life is at stake.

When the ball moved to the Sora doll Jet cheered on us before continuing the journey, running to the kitchen and returning with a slice of swiss cheese.

“Congratulations you three!” Ariel yelled.

“Now we shall return to earth and hand the rock over to Pikachu” said Jet landing the train, getting the three dolls to Pikachu.

“Here you go Pikachu here’s the rare wonderful moon stone.”

I picked put my hand on Pikachu shaking it going “Pika Pika I am very happy!”

Jet smiled splitting the cheese into three, giving a slice each for Ariel and me.

We ate the cheese, Mom heading to the kitchen.

“That was fun” said Ariel.

I immediately put my guards up again sitting on the pillow, don’t go near me… don’t go near me…

“What’s the matter?” she asked.

I didn’t reply.

She approached me.

“Go away!” I yelled.

“Huh?”

“Don’t go near me…”

She backed off, sitting on the floor.

Jet sigh at me, turning to Ariel to talk to her.

“Is he always like this?” Ariel asked.

“Yep.”

“Gees I wonder why…”

I lifted my legs up to my chin, I don’t want any friends. Not at all, the only people I want around are Mom, Dad, Jet and Sarah. Everyone else is a big pain on the butt.

Tonight after she left, Jet and I were in the bathroom taking a bath.

Yet Jet seems to like her…

I was scrubbing Jet’s body with soap, with a towel on my lap to wipe his body before we head into the bathtub.

I was rubbing his back when he said “Kleude what do you think of Ariel?”

“Err…”

“I wonder if she’s going to visit us tomorrow.”

“Considering what her dad said, maybe.”

“I never knew what’s it’s like to have a friend over… Or to have a friend period, everyone else are in large groups and it frightens me, what if they were like those kids I see in your class…”

“They probably are, I found out the hard way” I groaned scrubbing quickly. I still remembered that moment four years ago when I started school… Everyone seemed so friendly, but the crowd they are in frightened me and this girl Eku made fun of me!

“Wasn’t there that girl with the long glossy black hair, tanned skin and blue eyes that had a lot of people around her?” Jet asked.

“Eku and you do not need to know what she’s like other than the fact you shouldn’t befriend her.”

Jet sigh as I wiped his back before he cleaned me up and we jumped into the bathtub.

Needless to say ever since meeting Ariel I thought to myself our life is changing a little…

 

I wish she could go away but Jet likes her…


	2. Chapter 2

10/3/2003

Today was another crappy day at school.

Eku the most beautiful and popular girl at school rounded at me after school was over in the playground.

The teachers sometimes noticed it and told them to cut it but they don’t really punish them so they aren’t frightened after a while and go on like they always did.

I told Mom and Dad about it but they said I should bear with it until they can find a new school for me without bullies.

But it’s been three years and I’m still stuck in this school, I know we are quite poor so it’s unlikely I will change schools.

So I tried to deal with Eku and her friends but it was getting hard to bear all of the names they called me and they kept shoving me or hiding my stuff so I either get into trouble or get into a fight with them to get my stuff back and end up in trouble anyway.

Eku smirked at me at this very moment, pushing me on the ground.

I landed on the corner of the slide near me as she pulled my ears.

“Hello little freaky deaky” she said, yanking at my ears.

My eyes tear up at the piercing pain of her fingers pulling and pinching at my ears, I could slap her back but she would get her friends to beat me up until I’m black and blue all over and the teachers in here give punishment so lightly they would get away with it with only a scolding.

“Aww you are so wimpy you won’t fight back?” she tugged at my hair “Silly little loner no wonder no one likes you…”

I shuddered as she hit the back of my head with a slide, walking off laughing with her friends.

Some kids looked at me.

“Why are you looking at him?” Eku asked.

“Oh sorry Eku you are so strong and wonderful” they said

When everyone deserted the area I cried to myself on the slide, what did I ever do to get her and her friends in their black list? All I did was said I didn’t want to be a huge crowd and all of a sudden she called me a freak and slapped me on the face and it all downhill from here.

I wiped my nose, I wish I can run away but it would worry my family…

“Hey what’s the matter?” a boyish asked.

I turned my head, my vision is blurry from my tears but I could see white and red with brown on top.

“Here have some fruit juice” he handed me something.

I wiped my eyes, grabbing the carton of apple juice. I looked at the person in front of me.

A boy that looks around my brother’s age with spikey brown hair was smiling at me.

“I was just passing by and I saw you burying you head by the playground and wondered what’s up.”

I kept quiet, sipping the drink.

“I just moved to this town, nice to meet you cat ears, I’m Blood Maverick!”

“Kleude Fleming.”

“I hope we can be great friends Kleude! I want to make a lot of friends in Astterica town!”

I squinted my eyes at him, what’s with people wanting lots of friends? Is he going to be a jerk like Eku did when I told her I won’t hang out with her massive gang when they are all together?

I huffed, walking past him still sipping the juice.

“Huh?” he went as I past him, walking back home.

When I arrived Jet was looking at Sarah in her crib, putting his hand out for her to tickle.

“Welcome home Kleude!” said mom, holding a basket “It’s a lovely day outside, I’m sure you would enjoy having an afternoon outside!”

“Thanks mom!” I smiled taking the basket, heading outside.

Jet withdrawn his arms to follow me, Sarah crying loudly.

He turned to her singing a song to put her to sleep before heading out.

However Ariel was by the entrance holding a bag with some toys and manga sticking out. I recognized Luigi’s green cap.

“Hi Ariel, would you like to join a picnic with us?” Jet asked.

I sigh as they followed me to a meadow.

It was still a bit sunny and since the sun gives me a headache I decided to sit by a nearby tree.

Jet and Ariel also sat there as they got out the content from her bag.

There was the Luigi doll, a doll I with marigold fur and two bushy tails, I think it comes packaged in a franchise called Sonic the Hedgehog, a Jigglypuff, a Marill, a Clefairy and some Pokemon manga.

I smelled a familiar smell I smelled earlier in the area, the boy I encountered earlier must be around as well…

Sure enough he appeared with some other kids his age showing him around.

“The lake is so beautiful…” he said, he stopped when he saw me waving “Kleude!”

“Huh you know him?” Jet asked.

“We met on the playground after school” I said.

“What a coincidence to see you here!” said Blood.

I frowned, backing off.

Ariel and Jet looked at the boy.

“Hey there you two” said Blood.

“H-hello” they said, taking him in.

“Hey you look like Kleude” said Blood looking at Jet.

“I’m his younger brother.”

“Wow I wish I had a brother or sister…”

“We have a baby sister as well

“You two are so lucky…”

I frowned at him, biting on a carrot.

“What are your names?” Blood asked “I’m Blood Maverick!”

“Ariel Vermillion” said Ariel.

“Jet” said my brother.

Blood shook hands with them before walking away from the lake with his other friends.

After lunch Ariel decided to return home while we head to ours.

However after dinner and finishing up our homework before we head to bed I found myself unable to sleep.

I rolled around the bed trying to get to sleep but I couldn’t.

I looked at the clock. 10 PM… I should get a hot drink maybe that will help…

I got out of bed heading to the kitchen getting a can of milk powder and pouring water from the hot water dispenser.

I headed back to my bedroom, however on the way I noticed Mom was lying on floor with a pillow for support with Dad sitting next to her.

I don’t know whether to approach them or not but I hide myself, sipping on the milk waiting for something to happen.

Dad suddenly put himself on top of Mom letting out a soft moan from her I wonder how does his huge body not crush her.

They kissed each other. My eyes widened, this is the first time I see people kiss on the lips outside of occasional kisses from the hero and heroines in some of the manga Ariel shown to us.

To my utter shock Dad suddenly lifted the strap of Mom’s nightdress revealing her chest.

I bent myself forward to see more of this, what is going on?

Mom’s arms reached to his shoulders pushing down his shirt to his shoulders and back.

I looked at his body, sipping on my milk, he’s so muscular like some of the seniors in my school… I wonder if I’m going to be muscular like him too.

I looked at my body, it’s still pretty skinny even next to most of my classmates but who knows.

I looked back, mom’s breasts popped out from her shirt, I gasped at the two huge round flesh on her, covering my mouth to muffle my gasps, oh my gosh…

I knew she was pretty big to start with but these are so huge…

Dad picked up her chests with his hands pressing on them. His hands couldn’t cover them completely; he began to suck on one of her chest letting out high pitched screams from her.

My hands shook as his hands lowered to her thighs feeling her underwear, fingering inside it.

Some of the milk spilled on the floor, I will have to wipe it off later but for now I have to know what is going on here!

After he let go of sucking on her chest which has a red patch on the spot he sucked he lifted her skirt and pulled down her underwear revealing something I have never seen in my life.

She didn’t have something I did at all, there was a much smaller looking skin sticking out in its place and some slits much lower which I don’t have.

Dad undressed himself with Mom helping him.

He is so muscular… Even his thighs were covered in muscles.

He had the same thing I had, I’m not sure what’s it’s called but it was much bigger than mine and it was pretty veiny, red and dripping with white stuff.

He kissed her stomach putting on some sort of stuff on his long thing before pressing his thing on one of her slits, pinching the little skin above as he rubbed his thing over her slit before pushing in.

I trembled as he went up and down as they screamed on top of their lungs.

The cup on my hand began slipping down my fingers and landed with a loud crash.

Uh oh…

I shook as they got dressed and approached me.

“Kleude what are you doing here at this time?” Mom asked.

“I-I couldn’t sleep…” I said I’m afraid of what will happen but tears couldn’t come into my eyes.

“And somehow you caught us having sex…”

“Sex?”

Mom knelt down on her knees explaining about how my Dad, Jet and me have this thing called a penis while she and Sarah have a vagina which is one of the slits and to reproduce children these two things meet up so that the penis inject something inside her to produce a child that will form in nine months and the baby comes out from the spot.

“You will experience it one day…” said Mom.

I looked down at my crotch, I will experience such a thing? But it look so weird, it’s creeping me out!

However by this point I was so tired I collapsed on my bed after returning to my room and brushing my teeth again to think anymore about this.


	3. Chapter 3

11/3/2003

The shrill ring of the alarm clock woke me up.

I groaned, rubbing my forehead, oh my head…

All of a sudden the memories of what happened last night came back. Mom and Dad were… No no no! I don’t want to think about this!

Okay I need to get it out of my head right now!

I shall go to the living room and play with Jet, that will get it right out of my head!

Thank goodness for weekend though, I don’t have the mood to go to school.

Then again I wish there is such a thing as not ever going to school…

On the living room Mom, Dad and Jet were sitting by the coffee table eating cornflakes while Sarah was in her crib eating mashed apples.

I sat on the empty spot eating up the cornflakes.

Mom was looking at me with a sympathetic look on her face but Dad was too engrossed in his cornflakes to care.

I kept quiet finishing up my cornflakes and got up to play.

I dug through the box getting out Daisy, Sora, a rocket, Pikachu and some blocks.

I called Jet over to play with me.

Jet grinned, picking up Sarah from her crib.

Our sister is giggling, tugging at my hair, okay then what do I do to not make her cry?

I patted her thick curly lock of light brown hair, I realized she takes after Dad although she has mom’s bright blue eyes.

I looked at Jet and me, we were both blonde like mom but we have Dad’s eye colour, I wonder how we will look like in the future. Will we take after mom or dad by then?

I wish I could take after Dad, then I could deal with those horrible bullies Eku, Moton, Taro, Leslie and Red.

“Hello Kleude?” Jet’s voice broke me out of my daydream. He was waving at me.

“What were you doing?” he asked me.

“O-oh, sorry I was just thinking about something!”

“Ah.”

“So how about we play something today?”

“Okay!”

Jet picked up Pikachu and I picked up Sora.

“Pika Pika!” my brother yelled “Horrible news Princess Daisy has been kidnapped!”

“Oh no!” I screamed “We must save her from evil!”

We shuffled the dolls around jumping on blocks and riding a rocket.

While Jet were carrying the rocket around I picked up Daisy, letting her stand on top of a cushion “Oh whatever shall I do?” I said.

A knock on the door surprised me, making me drop the doll. Is Ariel going to visit us?

I picked up Daisy and tried to resume when a loud voice yelled “Wow a cat woman!”

Oh no Blood is here! He can’t see what I have in my house, I’ll be the laughing stock if he knew!

I tried to put Daisy back into the toy chest before he noticed.

“Hey it’s you!” I stopped, dropping the doll to the floor. I panicked, picking her up and trying to hide her.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“Oh I’m just packing away a toy” I said.

“Ooo can I see your toys?”

“N-no, our dolls are just generic run of the mill dolls. N-nothing to l-look at!”

However to my horror he looked inside my chest.

“Ooo a Pokeball” said Blood “And is that Princess Daisy?”

Aw crackers I am doomed, he will spread to everyone that I have a Princess Daisy doll, a Princess Daisy pencil box and a ladybug notebook…

“Cool you like the Super Mario series too?” he said.

I stopped, he was smiling at me…

“Y-yes” I said.

“Sweet! Next time I visit you I will bring some of my toys to play with you!”

“O-okay.”

“Great! From now on we are buddies!” he put out his hand.

I shuddered, will he ask me to join his gang if I accept him? I want some friends but I don’t want to be in a large gang.

I let out my hand, taking his hands into mine.

His hand is pretty stubby next to mine as we shook hands.

“I hope we spend lots of time together” he said.

I tried to smile, oh wow I made a friend… But what if-if…

“Hey want to visit my house tomorrow?”

“Yes!”

“That’s great! You can bring your brother along!”

I smiled for real this time, he asked my brother and me to visit him! I am looking forwards to tomorrow!

Blood stayed over, Jet taking a look at him.

“Hello” said Blood.

“H-hello…” said my brother.

“Nice to meet you, what shall we do?”

Jet tried to talk but found himself unable to reply.

Blood’s eyes shone when he saw Sora “Oh it’s my favourite character ever!”

“Y-you know something about Sora?”

“Kingdom Hearts is a great series! And Sora is the best hero ever!”

“Ah…”

“We are going to be the three musketeers! Sora! Pikachu and…”

I sigh looking through the chest, getting out Mario “Mario!” I said.

“And Mario!” said Blood “We swear to save the Princess from the evil…” he looked at the toy chest, getting out the Pokeball “Voltorb the evil glowing Pokeball of doom!”

We continued playing until Blood declared he has to go home or his mom will get upset.

Before he left he gave us a map with an indication of his house. I assumed he used that to keep track of every house in the neighbourhood.

We waved goodbye and spent the rest of our day as normal.

12/3/2003

The next day Ariel decided to visit, holding a bag.

“Sorry Ariel” I said “But we are going to visit Blood today.”

“That boy we met two days ago?” she said.

“Yep.”

“Can I come along?”

I scratched my head, I don’t really care if she comes or not. On the other hand my brother and sister do like her a lot… “Okay…”

Ariel bowed to me. Gees I’m not the king of England…

We took our toys into a backpack and headed for Blood’s house.

A woman with long brown hair opened the door “Oh hello you must be the boy my son was talking about” she said.

“He talks about me?”

“Yes, he told me about how he met you and how he wants to be your friend.”

I kept quiet biting my bottom lip, why does he want to be friends with me?

She lead us inside the house.

I looked at the house, the hallway is bigger than my living room…

Jet and Ariel were also looking, interested at what they saw.

“Blood, your new friend, his brother and their friend is here!” his mom yelled.

I stopped when I saw what was in front of me, there were seven other kids in his bedroom, all running around playing cowboys, shooting with pretend guns and hiding behind curtains or under the bed.

I shuddered, I want to leave but that’s rude…

“Hey Kleude!” Blood cried, jumping off his bed, approaching me.

I shuddered as he grabbed my arm “Let’s play cowboys!”

Jet and Ariel were looking about, also nervous at the crowd.

Blood’s friends stopped to look at me.

“Ooo he has cat ears!” said a girl with orange pigtails.

“He has a tail too!” said a fat boy.

I panicked as another boy touched my tail.

“Hey it’s stiff!” he said.

“I want to touch his ears!” said the fat boy.

As he was about to put his hand on my ears I screamed and run to the entrance.

“Whoa what’s with him?” said a girl with short light brown hair.

“Whoa there’s another boy with cat ears!” said a girl with long black hair.

“And a girl with blue hair!” said a very tall boy.

I shuddered as Blood approached me.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“I-I...Don’t let t-them touch me…”

“They just want to be friendly.”

“I don’t want to be in the crowd, I just want one or two friends” what did I just say? Now Blood will know I don’t want to be with his friends!

I covered my head in shame, what’s he going to do to me?

“I’m sorry Blood but Kleude has been through a lot” Jet mumbled.  
“Huh?” Blood went.

“He’s been picked on for years already and he just doesn’t like hanging out in groups.”

“Oh…”

“Go on Spikey, make fun of me, I know what you are thinking of me right now” I said.

I stopped shaking when I felt a hand on my head, turning. Blood wasn’t smirking or scowling at me, he actually looked worried…

“I’m sorry Kleude” he said “I didn’t think you would react like that.”

“It’s okay Blood…” I mumbled.

“Wow what’s going on?” the tall boy asked.

“Quiet, my friend is upset, he need some alone time” said Blood.

They shrugged, continuing to play cowboys.

Some of them decided to talk to my brother and Ariel though.

“Hey want to play with us?” the girl with red hair asked.

“P-play?” said Ariel.

“Join us if you want, it’ll be fun!”

My brother and Ariel slowly followed the girl. I stayed on the spot with Blood’s hands on my shoulders.

“It’s okay, I won’t try to invite them if you don’t want to” he said.

“B-but what about them?” I asked.

“They won’t mind if that doesn’t hurt anyone.”

“…”

“Hey let’s go visit the lake together after this!”

I looked up “H-huh?”

“I’ll make it up to you, I want to spend some time with you!”

My eyes widened, why does he want to hang out with me so? I’m just a nobody living in a cheap house that nobody wants, so why does he wants to be friends with me?

But all the same I nodded, he seems to really want to be my friend and I want to be his friend too.


	4. Chapter 4

Tonight I got dressed in thick clothes, the night is usually cold in Asterrica town after all…

Mom is washing dishes in the kitchen.

“Mom” I said.

She turned, looking at me “Yes dear?”

“I’m told Blood that I would go visit him to the lake tonight, can I go?”

She smiled at me “Of course dear!”

I jumped with joy, leaving the house.

The area wasn’t too dark yet, I walked to the woods, heading for the lake which isn’t too far away.

Blood was also dressed in thick clothes sitting by the lake.

“Hello!” he waved to me.

I smiled, sitting next to him.

“Just look how vast this lake is!” he said.

My eyes turned to the beautiful water.

“Imagine how big the rest of the world is!” he waved his hand about “I bet it would be huge and vast!”

I looked at him as he grinned and hopped about “Oh I would like to see the rest of the world like my dad!”

It came to my note his father wasn’t in the house “Where’s your dad?”

He kept quiet.

“Is he dead?”

“No but…”

I decided not to ask anymore and change the subject “So when you decide to go around the world are you going to take your friends with you?”

He grinned again “Of couse I will! But you will be my right hand man, travelling with me!”

“M-me!?”

“Yeah!”

“But can’t you find anyone else in your group? Why me?”

“Because you are so interesting!”

“What’s so interesting about me? We barely know each other.”

“I-I…” Blood looked away.

“Is it because I have cat ears and a tail?” I tugged one of my ear “I’m not the only cat person in this town, there are plenty in here.”

“Whoa whoa it’s not because of your ears or tail!” I stopped at his words “You are the first person I saw when I moved, you were so sad in that playground and I felt sorry.”

I thought about that time when he gave me a carton of fruit juice in another day of getting picked on.

“I want to make you happy when you were crying there.”

“I-I see…” I looked at my face reflected on the water, his face was close to mine smiling.

“I want everyone to be happy” he said.

I sigh, patting his spikey head, silly Bloody…

“When is your birthday Blood?” I asked.

“The sixth of June” he said.

“I’m on the thirteenth of February and my brother is on the twenty ninth.”

“I’ll remember that!”

We grinned, from this point on we are officially friends.

6/6/2003

My brother and I were in the toy shop with Mom getting something for Sarah to play with.

I also took my savings to buy a present for Blood.

Jet also took some of his savings.

Mom was looking at various baby toys.

“Hmm should I get a rattle or a building tower…” she scratched her chin “Boys can you help me?”

We looked at the two toys “I say the building tower” I said.

“I think the rattle would be better” said Jet.

“How about we play rock, paper, scissors then?”

“Okay.”

“Rock, paper… scissors!” we yelled.

I was paper, he was scissors.

“We get the rattle” my brother said, picking the rattle up.

I sigh walking off.

There were a lot of cute stuffed toys even though Blood plays with Ariel and our stuffed toys, all of the toys from what I saw were action figures and all those boy toys.

I looked through the action figure, dang they are pretty pricey… I want to save my money for the Anne of Green Gables book…

There is this green muscular man in purple shorts, I think Blood would like it but it costs 300 tamu, I only have 260.

I looked through various muscle bound figures but they cost more than what I’m comfortable with.

I stopped on a particular action figure.

It’s Sora in dark clothings, I never seen this one before… I bet Blood would love this!

I checked the price, 260 Tamu… Damn that’s all of my money, I looked at the toy, am I willing to spend all of four years of saving money and take seven years to save up to buy that book?

Buy it! my mind told me, okay then…

I picked up the box, handing it to the cash registered and handed all my money, Jet was still looking through toys.

“Hey there if it isn’t the cat dork” said a smooth voice.

I froze, turning my back. Oh no not Moton!

He smirk, flicking his blonde hair and adjusting his glasses “Ooo what are you doing here cat boy?”

“What do you want Moton?”

He approached me “Ooo black box? Trying to get some goth Barbie or something?”

“Mine your own business!”

He smirked grabbing the box, I screamed trying to get the box back but for such a skinny person he’s able to latch on the box like iron.

“Please give it back to me!”I yelled “That’s for my friend!”

“Friend huh?” he looked at the content of the box “Whoa ho ho you bought a vampire Sora! How so very manly little prissy boy to buy a dolly for your friend!”

“I want it back Moton! I’ll do anything lick your shoes clean, be your tutor, anything!”

He smirked, pulling at the end of my hair “Such a hideous golden colour” he peered at the doll “How about I do a little redecorating?”

I tried to slap him but he doesn’t seem to care as he snapped one of the wings off.

“NO!” I screamed.

“Shut you piece of cat shit!” he yelled, kicking me on the chest.

I groaned as he put his foot on my head, watching the wing fall off the floor.

His cackling is making me shudder and I began to shudder as I hear the sound of plastic being scratched off.

Then I saw an arm fall on the ground, Blood I’m so sorry you have to see Sora like this…

I shut my eyes and hope he doesn’t do anymore.

“Stop it you meanie!” Jet’s voice cried.

I opened my eyes when the foot on my head was gone.

“What do you want?” Moton asked.

“Stop it, that’s a present for his friend!”

“Try and stop me!”

Jet frowned slapping him.

However Moton countered, punching him down the ground.

“No Jet!” I cried trying to reach Moton as he was about to poke the figure’s eyes out.

“Enough of this!” Mom cried.

“Huh?” Morton gasped as mom, snatched the doll of his hand.

“What are you doing destroying my son’s present for?”

“I wasn’t destroying it! I was just… redecorating it!”  
“Then why is he so badly scratched and have a missing arm and wing?”

“I was… making it look more ferocious!”

Mom slapped him “You are just trying to torture my son! I will tell your parents!”

“Don’t mom!” I yelled, tugging her arm.

“Kleude I have to tell what they are doing to you!”

“You’ll only make it worse!”

“It’s for your own good, don’t you want to stop the bullying?”

My grip weaken, oh she doesn’t understand at all… Their parents were reported before but they don’t care.

“They don’t care at all Mom!”

However I don’t think she listened, she patted my head “It’s okay dear it’s not your fault, everything will be fine, I’ll get buy you a replacement for your friend.”

“No I’ll try to fix it for him” I shook my head.

When we arrived home I looked about the house for glue to fix up the toy.

There was some sort of glue with a warning without children, I ignored that one and got out the glue used for school.

I applied a lot of glue on the broken parts, it looks as good as ever. Well the broken parts anyway, the scratches are still around, I don’t know what to do about those.

Once the glue was dry looked around for some ribbon to tie around the toy and write Happy Birthday Blood on a piece of paper.

Jet was writing a tag, he looked at me “Big brother I’m sorry what happened to your present” he said.

“It’s not your fault.”

We were silent for the next few minutes when a knock on the door ended the silence.

Mom got the door for us.

“Hello Mrs Fleming” its Ariel’s familiar soft voice.

“Oh hello Ariel, are you here to play?”

“Yes madam.”

“Hello Ariel!” Jet got up.

I just waved to her and continued tying the tag on with the ribbon.

 

“Wow that figure looks awful what happened?” said Ariel.

“It got damaged by one of my classmates” I said.

“How mean of that person.”

I sigh, trying to tie a bow.

“How are you Ariel?” Jet asked.

“I’m fine.”

Jet and Ariel began to chat, I was done wrapping and decided to leave them alone to take a nap before we leave for the party.

After an hour of rest we headed to Blood’s home.

Like the first visit there were seven other kids in his house, I fidgeted as I approached Blood. I hope they don’t get too close to me…

“Happy birthday Blood” I said.

“Thank you so much!”

“Here’s your p-present.”

“Oh it’s Halloween town Sora!”

I stiffened as he looked at the figure “Hey why are there so many deep scratches?” he asked.

“It-it’s gotten a bit damaged on the w-way, yeah…”

He touched the arm, which became loose. Dang I thought it would stick!

He looked at me, I bowed at him.

“I’m sorry Blood but the toy got damaged a-and-“

“I understand” I looked up, Blood was smiling at me “It’s okay poor Sora lost his wing and limb on the way so he’s now gonna be a super awesome one armed warrior!”

“Bloody…”

“Thank you so much for the gift!”

He put his arms around me, I wrapped my arms around him as well. He’s warm…

He broke the hug, turning to his other friends “So anyone wants to play Pin the Tail on the donkey?”

The others cheered in joy.

For the next two hours they played about, Ariel and Jet joined in, I joined in as well but I stayed in the sideline whenever I can.

After a eating cake and whatever party food the others left. Only my brother, Ariel and me were left.

“The party is over!” Blood said.

“And a very happy birthday to you again” said Ariel.

“Aw thanks!”

We were quiet for a few seconds “Oh let’s write something!” Blood suddenly yelled.

We stared at him as he got some papers and pencils.

He scribbled a crudely done man with hair in a wild red mane with large arms “The hero of the great Light Heartz continent!”

“Light Heartz?” I asked “What kind of lame name is that?”

“It’s awesome name! The hero is the hero of light and he’s going to bring light to the world with his big heart!”

“Er okay…” I scratched my head.

“Okay now you write a friend for him” he handed his pencil and an empty paper to me.

“Me?” I scribbled on my character, a pale man with silver hair and a sword named Viridian Silverfish.

“Hand the pencil and a paper to the others” said Blood.

I don’t know what he’s planning so I handed the pencil and a paper to Jet.

He made a meek looking man as a brother to Viridian named Sapphire and handed the last slot to Ariel.

She made a princess with very long golden hair in a shiny white dress named Princess Kindspirits.

“Yay we got our team!” said Blood, he handed us some papers and pencils “We are gonna write about the lives of our heroes and then we get together and write our story and hand it to the other when we run out of idea.”

“That sounds like fun!” said Jet “How long will that be?”

“Until we are all grown up!” said Blood.

All of us nodded, we shall try to write for eleven years until all of us are eighteen.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the final chapter of 2003 next up will be a time skip to 2005


	5. Chapter 5

4/4/2005  
Nothing much has changed in the last few years, we hung out with each other. Well we hung out in Blood or my house, usually mine since according to Ariel, Blood’s house is further from her house than mine is.

Speaking of Ariel…

Jet and Sarah likes her a lot. I don’t know why they do but since they are happy with her company I’m not going to question about it.

She’s pretty quiet though so that’s a good thing and she’s not the type to want to dominate others.

Maybe she’s okay after all.

I was watching her as she was trying to teach Sarah how to walk.

“Go up up up” said Ariel.

“Up up up!” said Sarah.

Ariel walked a few distance away, gesturing Sarah to follow her.

Sarah trusts her… Ariel’s pretty good at dealing with my sister, even better than Jet.

Suddenly Sarah tripped on the floor, she began to cry after landing.

“Oh dear, don’t cry Sarah!” Ariel yelled.

She approached my sister, wiping her tears.

However Sarah was still crying, even hitting her.

“Whoa calm down!” Jet yelled grabbing a rattle, shaking it in front of her.

Her cries became louder as they tried to stop her helplessly, I approached her to stop her myself.

Maybe pulling a silly face will do.

I crossed my eyes, pulled my ears and stuck my tongue out.

For a moment she did stop crying, but she soon began to scream even louder.

“What was that for?” Jet asked “It’s not funny!”

“Sorry…” I said.

We stared at her helplessly, luckily for us Mom came out of the kitchen, rushing to Sarah “There there Sarah don’t cry” she said.

She picked her up and began to sing to her, Sarah giggled before falling asleep.

We sigh in relief as she stopped crying.

Mom put Sarah to rest on the crib, she looked at us before heading for the bedroom.

We stared at Mom.

“Your mom is really pretty” said Ariel.

“Oh really?” said Jet.

“I want to be as pretty as her…”

I poked her nose “Maybe you’ll be like the duckling that turned into a swan.”

“Huh?”

“Never mind…”

“Shall we play some games today?”

“Sorry but we are supposed to clean up the house in half an hour from now.”

“Can I help you two then?”

“I’m not sure if Mom will approve…”

“I don’t think she minds” said Jet.

“Hmm…”

Jet was right, Mom did say yes.

So Ariel helped us clean, she’s utterly rubbish at washing dishes(breaking a lot of them much to my chagrin) but she’s good at sweeping, we’re not sure how good she is at cleaning the window so when I got done wiping the kitchen table I decided to wash the window since Jet was still cleaning the bathroom.

As I was wiping the window I saw Ariel nearby, maybe I should tell her that she’s my friend too.

I dropped my cleaning rag when I felt my ears and tail being tugged. Before I knew it I found my face on the window.

I tried to turn but I couldn’t, all I could see is crack. Oh god I hope he’s not going to…

“Those ears and tail… they disgust me…” Red…

“That’s a cat person right?” said a girlish voice I don’t recognize.

“Yeah I hate them, cats are annoying.”

“I dunno, those ears are pretty cute.”

“What did you just say?”

“O-oh I mean cats are cute, they look a-awful on people!” I can tell her voice is faltering.

While they are droning, I tried to wiggle out of my way but Red is incredibly strong and I can barely even move and inch.

I decided to alert someone “HELP ME!” I screamed.

It certainly alerted Red “Shut up you noisy feline!” he yelled, pressing my face closer to the window, I shut my eyes in fear, oh no no no I don’t want to lose an eye!

“Stop hurting my friend!” I relaxed, Ariel…

The grip Red has on me loosen, I collapsed down the floor.

“Ooo a cute girl” said Red.

“Red?” said the girl.

“Hey there cutie want to go out for some smoothie tonight?”

“Go out with you?” said Ariel.

I groaned getting up, I took a look at what was going on.

Red was latching onto Ariel, the creep…

The girl he was talking to was also latched to him, she has long green hair in braids and green eyes with large round glasses.

“So how about it cutie? Why don’t we go out for some smoothies tonight?”

Ariel looked at him, trembling. Before I knew it she slapped him on his face.

We froze in shock until Red grabbed her shoulders and screamed “How dare you do that you piece of fuck!”

Ariel began screaming as he shook her and slapped her.

I yanked his girlfriend off his shoulders and grabbed Red “Don’t hurt her!”

Red turned ready to hit me, he stopped before mid swing for some reason. Ariel managed to get away before I slapped him on the ground and we ran back into the house.

“Red why did you stop?” I overheard girlfriend asked “Those girls got away!”

That’s the first time anyone called me a girl…

We hid inside my bedroom, locking the door.

“Did she just call you a girl?” Ariel asked.

I looked at her without replying.

Ariel took a look at my face “Wow I never realized how cute you look…”

“Cute?”

“I want to look like you.”

“Well Red likes you, so you must be pretty cute to get his attention Ariel.”

“If only I had golden hair…”

I bit my lips, tugging at my hair, I never seen the appeal of that colour… I wish I had red or brown hair instead of being a dumb blonde, yellow is such an ugly colour.

“Who was that guy?” Ariel asked me.

“Red? He’s just a classmate of mine, a total jerk who will pick on anyone who dares disagree with him.”

“He sounds like a person.”

“He is.”

“I’m sorry you have such a classmate…”

“…”

“I know you don’t like me but-“

“I do like you Ariel.”

“H-huh?”

“You are always so nice to all of us… And even though I don’t really let you join in if it weren’t for my brother…”

“Kleude…”

“Ariel you are my official friend.”

Ariel smiled, grabbing my hand.

My hands were shaking a little at the skin contact but I closed my hand in.

“KLEUDE WHAT IS THIS!?” Mom’s voice rang through the door.

I slowly opened the door shuffling my feet out.

She gasped when she saw my face “What happened to your face.”

“I-I…”

“Did one of those horrid kids smash your face when you were cleaning?”

“Yes…”

“Which one is it?”

I kept quiet, I didn’t want mom to report to his parents, it will just make things worse…

“It’s a boy with black hair named Red” said Ariel.

Oh crap I forgot about Ariel “Don’t tell her” I hissed to her.

“I will tell his parents what their son did to our window and to you…” she said.

“No please don’t it won’t make anything better” I said.

“Why do you keep saying that dear? They need to know.”

I gave up, she doesn’t know since they often act like they understand but behind her back they do not care.

She grabbed me by the arm to Red’s house.

Jet and Ariel just stared at me before we left the house.

Red’s house is bigger than mine, about the same size as most of the houses in Asterrica.

His house is pretty nicely furnished inside, his mom was peeling vegetables and there’s a teenage boy playing video games about driving over people and police chasing his car.

The machine he’s playing the game looks awfully like the one Blood has… What was it called again? PS2?

Red frowned when he saw my mom and me.

His mother noticed us.

“Oh hello Mrs Flu” said Mrs O Shay.

“Mrs Fleming” said Mom “It’s your son Red.”

“Did he do something again?” Mrs O Shay gasped.

“Explain it to him” Mom looked at me.

I can’t get away from this… “Red smashed my face into the window.”

“Oh dear” said Mrs O Shay “How painful, I will make sure my son is punished for his action.”

I frowned, she doesn’t sound very serious about it…

Mom patted my head “Okay so what shall we do to make up?” she felt my bruised face deciding “Oh how about some nice carrot cake? I know you love carrots.”

I shuddered as we walked back home, Red was giving me a death glare…

I hate to know what he is going to do to me…


	6. Chapter 6

4/5/2005

It’s been over one month and somehow even encountering Red after that incident, everything is still the same as usual.

I’m getting Jet’s height measured.

“4.3 ft…” I said, looking at my measurement at that age of a meager 4.1ft “You are taller than me when I was your age, you’re getting big Jet.”

“How tall do you think Ariel and Blood are?”

“Well last time we saw them you are taller than they are.”

“Oh…”

I picked up a comb on the table to comb his hair.

“Your hair is getting pretty long” I said, his hair is already longer than mine hitting to mid neck.

“I want to grow my hair out” Jet said “I want to have long hair in a ponytail like all those cool guys in those video games Blood has” he gestured his hands to mimic a gun.

I giggled, putting the comb back on the table.

Mom had a fever so both of us have to tend to Sarah as Dad is once again too busy to take care of her.

We are supposed to take a walk with her.

We know she likes Ariel but we don’t know where her house is.

I wonder if she likes Blood though…

“Hey do you think she will like Blood?” I asked my brother.

“Why do you want him to come along for?”

“Err…”

“Well he’s your friend so I guess you can go call him over.”

I grinned at Jet, patting his head.

We walked to Blood’s house and knocked on the door.

His mother opened the door, looking down at us “Oh hello boys, are you here to see Blood?”

“Yes Madam” I said.

She let us into the house, taking us into the living room to sit on the couch.

A minute later Blood arrived, his loud voice piercing across the room as he jumped on top of me.

“Why hello Kleude!” he yelled.

“Whoa careful Blood” I patted his spikey hair.

He got up, looking at Sarah “Oh hi Sarah.”

“Bura…” she said.

“It’s Blood.”

“Bura…”

“So what brings you three here?”

“We were going to take a walk with Sarah and I was wondering if you like to walk with us?”

Blood smiled at me, I take that as a yes.

We left shortly after to travel to the park.

The place is crowded with people walking around.

“Hey look a raccoon folk!” Blood yelled.

We looked at a family with raccoon ears and tails feeding bread crumbs to pigeons.

Sarah is bouncing up and down in joy at everything.

I caught sight of two teenagers sitting on a bench cuddling each their faces dangerously close to each other, I quickly turned away. Gross!

“Hey what were you looking at over there?” Blood asked, turning to where I was looking at earlier “Oh my they’re kissing!”

I groaned, urg just looking at Mom and Dad kissing in front of us is gross…

I stopped at the smell of a hint of spicy perfume. Oh no it’s Eku…

“Oh why hello cat boy” her slimy voice went.

I shuddered, hiding behind Blood.

Red and Eku were in front of me, Eku smirking and Red with his usual poker face, the obnoxiously strong smell of Eku’s perfume was stinging my nose.

“Hello” said Blood.

“Oh look cat boy has a tiny little friend, how cute” said Eku.

“I’m going to grow up big and strong like Dad!” said Blood, I still could never get any answer on what happened to his father.

“Oh you so would you midget…”

Blood frowned “Are you making fun of me?”

She laughed loudly, pushing him.

“Hey that’s rude!” he yelled.

She grabbed my ears, looking at my face dangerously close.

“Gees Red is right, you look girly, yucko!” she pushed me on the floor “Ew digusting!”

Red walked past us, stopping in front of Jet and Sarah.

“What a baby, playing with his sister” he said.

Jet didn’t say anything but I can tell he looks pretty uncomfortable, I struggled to get up shouting at Red “Don’t make fun of Jet!”

Red ignored me, digging into his pocket getting out a pocket knife!

I gasped, what is he going to do to Jet? Sarah’s already crying helplessly.

I tried to run to help him but Eku pushed me down again stepping on my body. Ow I swore I broke my backbone!

“Stop it you jerk!” Blood yelled, rushing to Eku, but she managed to punch him twenty feet away from her.

I stared at Blood who is unconscious, I turned back to see Red picking up my brother, drawing the knife to his face.

I tried to shut my eyes but Eku lifted my head pulling my hair “Stupid cowardly cat, such a wimp…” she whispered.

I whimpered I wish I can get away from her ferocious grip… The sound of Jet screaming is sending chills down my spine…

“Stupid girly boy, you must be a girl in disguise” said Eku.

I wiggled myself to get away from her, Sarah’s crying is getting louder, I prayed to myself it’s going to alert someone in this crowd…

“Let go of him!” someone yelled, yep it worked!

I could hear Jet’s yelp and a thump from the hard ground and Eku’s feet of my back.

I opened my eyes, looking in Jet’s direction, he’s lying on the ground face first but Eku and Red are gone.

I briefly looked at Blood, he’s still unconscious… That must have been a really bad blow.

“Jet are you okay?” I asked, shaking him lightly.

He groaned, turning to face me. Oh my gosh... his face is covered in blood, dripping down the floor, I have to get to the nearest hospital!

Blood is injured too…

The person who stopped Red however was still around, looking at my brother and me “Need some help?” he asked.

I nodded my head, the man got up carrying Blood on his back, I helped my brother and Sarah to go the nearest clinic.

I looked at the man, he was pretty lanky yet muscular with very spikey brown hair, he sure looks an awful lot like Blood…

“Thank you for stopping those bullies for me sir” I said.

“No problem, I’m sorry they gotten away though.”

“It’s okay” secretly I’m kinda glad they got away, I do not want another report session…

The man sighed as we continued our trip to the clinic.

Inside the clinic we have to wait since the room is occupied, I looked at my brother, he’s whimpering in pain…

“Calm down…” said the man, getting a tissue out to wipe his face, the blood is coating his hand and the tissue.

“Am I going to die?” Jet asked.

“Don’t say that, your big sister is so worried about you.”

“I don’t have an older sister.”

The man stopped wiping his face, staring at me.

“Yes I am his older brother” I said.

“You are awfully girlish looking for a boy…”

“I realize that last month” I sigh “My father is very manly looking, do you think I could take after him?”

“Who knows.”

I was getting optimistic about getting big and strong like Dad when the door to the examination room opened.

Ariel is with her mother, her mother has the same hairstyle but her hair is brown instead of blue with narrow piercing eyes.

“Oh hi Kleude” said Ariel.

“Hello Ariel” I said.

“Why are you here?”

I kept quiet, she looked at Jet “Oh my goodness! What happened to your face!”

“Those classmates of Kleude…” said Jet.

“O-o-oh… I hope it isn’t anything too serious…” with that she followed her mother out of the clinic.

All of us got up to visit the doctor.

“Good afternoon” said the doctor, I looked at him, amazed he’s so tall and his hair is so white…

“Sir can you take a look at these two boys!?” the man asked “One of them is unconscious and the other is bleeding on his face!”

“Okay” the doctor’s voice is surprising calm, I looked at his name tag. Nate…

The doctor examined Blood, checking his heart beat.

“My parents will be so worried…” I mumbled.

“Do your parents have a phone? I can call them up to say you are in the clinic.”

“No, they can’t afford a phone.”

“Oh…”

“I’m sure Mom is gonna go all over town to find us…”

“What about your father?”

“He’s away working, I doubt he’d notice.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“I guess I have to go home once both my brother and my friend are checked and tell Mom what happens if she’s at home.”

“Okay the little boy here is unconscious from a blow he received, we just have to wait until he wakes up, it won’t be too long” said the doctor.

I watched as the doctor got a towel, dabbing Jet’s face.

A groan caught my attention, I turned around. Blood got out of the bed rubbing his head.

“Oh my head…” he groaned.

“Are you feeling better Blood?” I asked.

“Oh my god my head is spinning…” he paused “Why am I in a clinic?”

“Eku punched you on the face and sent you flying.”

“Oh!” he grabbed the collar of my shirt “What happened to your brother!?”

I pointed to the doctor.

“Whoa so much blood…”

The doctor walked over to the sink to wash to get another towel and soak the previous one in water.

We took a look at Jet’s face.

There are cuts in between his eyebrow, on his forehead and near the bottom of his lips… Those don’t look too deep.

However there is one very deep cut on the right side of his cheek on the shape of an X. Oh god it looked so horrifying to even see the cut…

After all of the blood is cleaned up, the doctor covered each bruise in medicine and bandages, the one with the deep scar with a heavier treatment “Be sure to tell your parents about it and get the bandages changed after every six hours before it gets infected until it they dry out, most of the cuts will fade in a few months but the one on his cheeks will take years before they fade completely”

I nodded, rushing out of the clinic, taking Jet and Sarah with me.

“Are you four going to go home?” the man asked.

“Yes and thank you very much for helping us sir!” I yelled.

Blood followed me “Oh god my head is killing me…” he whined “I think I’ll go home and take a rest…”

“Bye Blood” I said as he headed for another direction.

When we arrived home we caught sight of Mom on her knees crying and coughing.

I bit on my bottom lip, Sarah’s unable to cry anymore from all her crying earlier… “M-mom w-we’re home…” I said.

Mom stopped crying looking up “Oh you three are back, where have you been?”

She stopped when she saw Jet’s face “W-what happened to your face!”

We explained to her what Eku and Red did to him while we were taking Sarah for a walk and what the doctor told us to do.

“I-I see…” she said, after a bout of coughing fits “We should report this to the school.”

“It doesn’t work Mom” I said.

“What do you mean? You don’t want this to go on right?”

“The Principal doesn’t care at all…”

“Nonsense dear, he is always very understanding when I told him about it.”

“That’s what you only see, it always goes back to normal after you report to him, he never does a thing about this!”

“I’m sure he just have a lot to deal with…”

I pouted, she never seemed to understand it never works!

She patted my head “Hey how about we visit your friend Blood tonight? You’ll like that won’t you?”

My ears sunken down, Blood was hurt in that incident as well… It’s not his fault.

After dealing with me, she tended to Sarah trying to calm her down.

However in the end Mom couldn’t get out of the house to report to my relief, I hope she forgets about it when she gets better…

Tonight Dad returned home, I happily hugged him, it’s so rare for him to return!  
Dad patted me on the head and headed to Sarah who is playing with a Barbie doll.

“Hey there little tyke!” he said, lifting her up playing with her locks.

Sarah giggled “Dada...”

“Welcome home honey” said Mom.

“Ah it feels good to be at home again…” Dad stroked one of her ears.

“Something bad happened to Jet earlier” said Mom.

“Huh?”

“When our sons were taking Sarah for a walk some bullies in Kleude’s school attacked Jet!”

“That’s harsh…”

“Dear I need to take Kleude to his friend’s house can you check on Jet to change his bandages?”

“Okay dear.”

Mom took my hand, taking me to Blood’s house.

Blood was playing Kingdom Hearts on his PS2.

“Oh hey Kleude” he said, he still looked rather queasy…

“I’m sorry about what happened earlier…” I said.

“It’s not your fault, you didn’t ask for it.”

“But you and Jet didn’t have to be involved! I’m the one who they hated not you two!”

“They didn’t have a reason to bully you!”

I kept quiet, that moment still hurts me so much… Yet if I agreed I hate to know what would happen to me. Would I be like their helpless friends just agreeing with them and being unable to act for themselves?

“Hey we are still around without anything lost so we’re fine” said Blood.

I looked at him surprised for a moment before smiling at him. Yes we didn’t lose anything…

We spent one hour in front of his TV, he decided to hand the controller to me to try Kingdom Hearts.

My hands trembled, what if I do badly?

He assured me that he will cheer for me even if I messed up, I thanked him before starting up the game.

Inside my mind I want to thank the man that helped us but I don’t know who he is or where he’s from…


	7. Chapter 7

1/6/2005

Good news: No school for three whole months so I can avoid bullies for three whole months

Bad news: Summer is one hell of a hot season and I hate the sun

Mom and Dad are planning on going out of town for vacation.

They want somewhere with very clean air as Mom’s health is rather poor.

“Heat town, Gunrock town and Holy village are out” said Dad “So where shall we go?”

“What would the kids like?” Mom asked.

“How about a place with lots of lakes” said Jet.

“I want to walk on the countryside with lots of grass and plants!” I said.

“Watah watah!” Sarah cheered.

“Okay a place with lakes and plants…” said Mom.

“Mislead village and Sergio village are pretty far away” said Dad “Would they like to go to Toshinden city?”

“That’s a great spot, I could do some shopping in there as well!”

And so it’s settled we are going to some place named Toshinden city.

Mom and Dad allowed us to invite our friends if they approve.

When Ariel and Blood arrived we asked them if they want to come along and if their parents want to come as well.

They accepted and said their parents would love to go out of Asterrica as well.

My family doesn’t own any kind of transport and neither does Blood’s so we have to take five hours of walking.

However as we were about to depart we noticed a rather large white car stopping where we were.

One of the windows opened revealing Ariel.

“I thought all of you would like to travel by car” she said.

“Whoa Ariel what a nice car” said Blood.

“It looks expensive…” I said.

Ariel didn’t say a word as we head inside her car, her father is driving us, her mother is on the front seat and Ariel on the very back.

Mom and Dad sat on the middle row, the rest of us sat on the back.

“Ready to depart?” Mr Vermillion asked.

“We’re ready” said Mom.

With that we depart from Asterrica to Toshinden.

“I didn’t think your family has such a large car Ariel” said Jet.

“I-I…”

“It looks really fancy too” I said.

“I’m sorry but I didn’t want all of you to know about my home life.”

“Huh?” we cocked our heads.

“I thought that if all of you know you would only want to befriend me for money” she said.

“I don’t care how rich you are Ariel, you are you” said Jet.

“Yeah it doesn’t matter” said Blood.

“Wealth doesn’t mean much to me” I said.

“Thank you all of you” said Ariel.

We decided to look through the window at the sight as we travelled.

Grassy plains with shrubs and pine trees flew past our eyes, in one patch sat a dairy farm with cows being milked before we past more shrubs and pine trees.

It’s beautiful… Astericca is admittedly already a beautiful town but this I can’t wait to see how Toshinden is like!

“Ahhh it’s cooling in here…” said Mom.

“You should rest dear, your body is weak” said Dad.

“I guess you’re right…”

I glanced at Mom and Dad, Mom collapsed on Dad’s lap falling asleep, I turned my head back watching the view of the countryside past us.

After two hours we saw stone floorings, we arrived in Toshinden city!

“Here we are!” said Mr Vermillion.

Mom woke up, looking through the window “It’s beautiful!” she said.

“Where are you all going to stay?” Mrs Maverick asked.

“Do you know any inexpensive inns?”

“We’ll look around and find a place for your family” said Mrs Vermillion.

“Thank you very much!”

At the nearest inn from the entrance Mr Vermillion parked his car on a parking space and we took a look at the inn.

The inn is nicely furnished with a bamboo fountain surrounded by bonsai trees.

However the inn price was too expensive and Mom declined.

We went into various inns but Mom declined for pricing or for bad condition.

After five inns…

We finally found one that is both in good condition and an acceptable price.

Ariel’s family is in one room, Blood’s is in another, my family in yet another.

We unloaded some of our stuff and Mom decided to rest while the rest of us go into town.

Dad was holding Sarah’s hand the whole time, watching as she points to every shop in the window.

“Flowah flowah!” she said, pointing to some roses in a window.

“That’s right they are flowers” Dad patted her head.

Clothes… oo a bookstore!”

I tugged at Dad’s shirt “Can I go to the bookstore?”

“Sarah wants to see the flower shop first, we can go to the bookstore later” he said.

“Okay…”

Inside the flower shop is very colourful and radiant with a wide variety of flowers, roses, tulips, petunias, sunflowers among goodness knows how many sparkling in vases and pots in glass cases or hanging on the ceiling or sitting on tables.

It almost feels like being on a flowery field in the countryside...

“It’s beautiful!” said Jet.

“Yeah…” said Ariel.

“Man I want to capture memories of this!” I said.

After Sarah had enough we headed to the bookshop.

I headed for the preteen novels section. They’re all so expensive! I’m still saving up for Anne of Green gables but goodness the price of most of these.

“Hey whatcha looking for?” Blood asked.

“Ah just checking for any interesting books.”

“Sweet!

“But they are all so pricey…”

“Too bad...”

I went past the books to look at stationaries, there were a bunch of art pads on discount I could try drawing the views of this city and I bet drawing could be fun, they cost 20 Tamu each, I looked inside my purse, 20 Tamu just enough.

When I paid for the art pad I realized… I don’t have any drawing supplies…

I groaned in disappointment.

“Hey why do you look so down?” Blood asked me.

“I want to try drawing but I don’t have money to draw…”

“I’ll buy art materials for you.”

“Oh but Blood that’s going to come out of your money!”

“Don’t worry anything for my best friend!”

I kept quiet, Blood can be very stubborn. Then again so am I, that’s something we both have in common.

“Hey there big brother!”

I turned my head, Jet is holding a plastic bag with a book inside.

“Got something interesting?” I asked.

“Yeah an old copy of Harry Potter.”

“That book about that wizard boy that everyone is hype about…”

“Well it sounded interesting to me and since it’s so cheap I might as well buy it.”

“Okay…”

“Did you just buy something?”

“Yeah I thought of taking up drawing.”

“And taking longer to get the book you want? Wow…”

Blood returned with a bag, there was something larger that is obviously not a supply of pencils.

I dig into his bag getting the larger box, a set of 24 colour pencils…

“Oh Bloody you shouldn’t” I said.

“Don’t worry about it as long as you like it, I don’t mind” he said.

I sigh, Blood is always so nice to me…

We left the book store to continue walking around.

We saw some adults walking by, I stopped when I recognized one of them.

It was the man who helped us stop the bullies from hurting Jet any further!

I rushed to he and friends’ direction yelling on top of my lungs.

They stopped, turning to my direction, I stopped at the sight of four people staring at me.

“Oh it’s you!” said the man.

I shook as they approached closer to me, this is making me nervous.

The three strangers included a man that appeared to be of the spikey man’s age with blonde hair, another is a girl that appeared younger than the others with dark green hair, large blue eyes and a dress that looks like it came straight from a pixie fantasy and the last is a woman wearing next to nothing with long blonde hair.

“Hey are all of you cat people?” the girl with green hair asked.

“Yep” said Dad.

“Wow are your ears real?” the girl walked closer to me lifting her hands to my ears.

I squeaked, running behind Dad.

“Huh is she shy?”

“Sorry but Kleude doesn’t like people getting too close” said Jet.

“Oh can I touch your ears little girl?”

“N-no!”

“Oh!”

“Those are rather shy girls…” said the blonde man.

“The one with the bob hair and the one in the ponytail are boys” said the spikey haired man.

“WHAT!?” the two blondes and the green haired girl yelled.

“No kidding.”

“Those are some very cute boys…” said the woman.

“So why are you here?” the spikey haired man asked me.

“We are just here on vacation sir” I said.

“Cool!”

“And I forgot to say this but thank you for helping me sir!”

“No problem, I’m there to help if I can.”

“What’s your name? I’m Kleude Fleming.”

“Eiji Shinjo and these are” he pointed to the other man “Kayin Amoh” he pointed to the girl “Ellis” he pointed to the woman “Sonia.”

“Nice to m-meet all of you” I bowed to all of them.

“Hey want to come over see my nephew tonight? I’m sure he would like to meet all of you!”

“You have a nephew?”

“My brother’s son, he’s eleven years old.”

“O-okay.”

“Great meet me near that fountain over there!” he pointed to a fountain in the middle of the city.

“Okay!”

After they left we decided to tour the city some more before heading to the inn to rest.

Blood visited my room when we woke up.

“Hey there!” Blood waved.

“Hi Blood” I said.

“Hello” said Jet.

“How do you feel about visiting Eiji and meeting his nephew tonight?”

“I-I…” my face went down “Actually I’m nervous… what is this nephew like? And how is this going to turn out…”

“Don’t worry I’m sure he’s a nice person like his uncle!”

“…I’m afraid that I will lose your friendship Blood…”

“You will always be my friend Kleude, I will never betray you if you do befriend him!”

I frowned, there are some friends who broke up out of jealousy, Blood doesn’t seem like the jealous type but I’m not so sure…

And I’m still not sure if this nephew will be a nice guy.

“Hey what are you going to do tomorrow?”

My ears lifted up “Mom would like to walk around the countryside around the city.”

“I would love to walk around the mountains.”

“I just want to relax under a cooling tree…”

“I’d like to go fishing by the lakes” said Jet.

“What do you think would Ariel like to do?”

“I dunno.”

Tonight all of us headed for the center of the city.

Near the fountain it’s empty…

We must have arrived early…

We approached the area sitting on it but before I sat on the stony fountain…

“Hiya!” went a high pitched voice.

I squeaked, slipping off the fountain and landing inside the water, hitting my back and head on the hard surface.

“Ow…” I groaned.

A boy with spikey orange hair and red eyes was staring at me, he looks familiar…

“Hey there!” he said.

My eyes, widened, getting myself up looking at him.

“Hey you got cat ears and a tail cool!”

I gritted my teeth.

“Hi I’m Subaru Shinjo, my Unca told me about ya!”

“H-hello Subaru Shinjo…”

“So you’re that Eiji’s dude nephew” said Blood.

“Yep!”

“Nice to meet you” said Ariel.

Subaru grinned at them before looking at me again “Hey can I touch you ears?”

I shrieked, backing off, my back hitting the center of the fountain “No!”

“Aww…”

“Shall we play some games?” Blood asked.

“Ooo what games do you have?”

“Maybe you’d like to play on the PS2?”

“Okay!” he stopped “But first I need to tell my best friend Naru about this! And speaking of Naru…”

“Subaru what are you up to?”

Subaru and me climbed out of the fountain, a tiny girl with blonde hair in pigtails that resembled drills and a girl a little smaller than her with long blue hair were approaching Subaru.

“Oh hey Naru, meet the person I’m supposed to meet tonight!”

Naru looked at me for a brief second “Hey a cat person!”

“Neat” said the blue haired girl.

I looked at the darker haired girl, she looks a little like Ariel…

“Hey there” Blood greeted the girls.

“Oh my you look like Subaru and his uncle!” said Naru.

“Must be a coincidence!”

Ariel glanced at the blue haired girl “Hello” she said.

“Hello” the girl bowed, she even sounds like Ariel!

“What’s your name? I’m Ariel Vermillion.”

“Lancelot Lakenight.”

“Your name sounds so manly Miss Lancelot…”

“Lancelot is a boy” said Naru.

“W-what!?”

I stared at him, okay another girly boy…

Blood stared at Lancelot his eyes widening “Whoa Kleude looks almost manly next to you” he said.

“Well he has five older sisters…” said Naru.

“I am sorta glad I only have a brother and a sister” I said “Having five sisters must be a nightmare.”

“They are really nice…”

“I’ll take your words for that.”

“Hey want to take a ride on my bike you four?” Subaru asked.

“I want to ride on a bike!” Blood yelled.

“Great!”

The boy ran in another direction, Eiji was arriving when he got caught by his nephew causing both to crash on the ground.

“Oh sorry Unca!”

“It’s alright.”

They got up and Subaru continued to run.

We had to run to catch up with him, it’s easy for Jet and me but not so for Ariel and especially Blood.

When he finally stopped by his house Ariel and Blood are tired out, Subaru grinned getting out his bike to us.

“Hey who wants to ride on my bike first?” he asked.

Ariel, Jet and me backed off but Blood approached him with his arms raised.

“Okay you can ride the bike…”

“Blood Maverick!”

“Blood Maverick you can try out my bike.”

Blood jumped into the bike, he tried to keep up his balance Subaru helped him keep steady.

Eventually Blood managed to keep his balance without any help pedaling the bike.

Ariel, Jet and me cheered him on.

“Now let’s go to the countryside!” Subaru yelled.

He ran out of his garden, Ariel groaned she’s pretty tired out.

We stopped in a huge grassy plain, I took in the sweet grassy smell of fresh grass… The area is mostly flat with some trees and flowers but there is a slope downwards.  
Subaru grinned at Blood, slapping his back “So Blood want to bike downhill?”

“Hmm… it looks kinda steep…” said Blood.

“Don’t worry I rode downhill before and nothing happened to me.”

Blood bit on his bottom lip, looking at the cliff “Okay if you say it’s fine…”

He pedaled the bike downhill, the bike is going faster, faster and faster…

“Whoa!” he yelled stepping on the brake but he’s still going downhill faster and faster…

“Blood!” Jet, Ariel and I screamed.

Blood suddenly fell on the bike landed on his left arm with a nasty crack sound.

I stared at him collapsed in a heap… I screamed, running down the hills.

“Blood! Are you okay!?” I screamed.

Blood opened his eyes “Yeah…” he clutched his left arm “But m-my arm…”

I shuddered, hugging him.

“Ow my arm!”

“Oh s-sorry” I let putting his bad arm on my shoulder, helping him get up the cliff.

Ariel and Jet were pale when we got up, Subaru is looking rather pale as well but he decided to open his big mouth… “Hey how about we play on your friend’s PS2? I’m sure that will h-help him right?”

“Shut about games fire head!”I yelled walking past him, heading to where our parents were hanging around in.

“Welcome back-“ Mom stopped when she saw Blood.

“What happened to your arm Blood!” Mrs Maverick yelled rushing to Blood.

“I fell from biking down a hill a-and…” his voice is getting rather weak…

“We’ll explain later Mrs Maverick” I said.

Mrs Maverick nodded, helping Blood to a clinic.

Subaru is looking rather upset, approaching me “I’m sorry I didn’t think that…”

“I don’t care if you never met an accident downhill Subaru Shinjo but it’s your fault he’s injured…” I said.

He backed off “I-I’m sorry…”

“Saying sorry won’t do anything!” I stormed to the clinic in anger.

Inside the clinic the doctor is wrapping a lot of cotton on Blood’s arm and put a splinter before wrapping it with bandages.

I shuddered it must be hurting him so badly… I can’t stand seeing him being hurt so badly…

I collapsed on him, putting my arms around the waist screaming on top of my lungs.

“Aww you’re drenching my shirt Kleude” he said, patting my head.

“You don’t deserve to be hurt Blood!”

“It’s okay I will recover, the worst part is all over don’t cry.”

I turned my head up, he’s smiling but I can sense a bit of grimace on his face… I think he’s trying to hide his pain.

2/6/2005

I woke up, unable to sleep still thinking about that incident. Poor Blood…

Jet, Sarah, Mom and Dad are still asleep, I quietly left the room and headed to the lobby to try out sketching.

I tried to get my mind out of that incident trying to imagine the flower shop instead.

“You’re up early” said a soft voice.

I turned my head, Ariel is walking downstairs.

“You’re up early yourself Ariel.”

“I couldn’t sleep…” she sat next to my spot.

I stared at her continuing sketching.

“Do you like this place Kleude?”

“It’s very beautiful from what I saw.”

“Will we ever get to explore more of this place.”

“Hmm…”

“I want to know about Naru and Lancelot…”

“…”

“They seem like such interesting people, especially Lancelot.”

“…”

“You are being awfully quiet.”

“That friend of theirs...”

“Subaru?”

“It’s all his fault t-that…” my voice is shaking thinking about that moment.

“I’m sorry I shouldn’t mention about them.”

We stared at each other without any words. I resumed sketching, urg it’s pretty hard to draw.

I was pretty disappointed in my result, tearing the page off in frustration and heading to the public bathroom.

I unwrapped the towel tossing it on the ground(not like anybody is around) and dipped myself into the water, it’s nice to bathe myself in the hot steamy water… My mind is feeling more relaxed…

I was blissfully enjoying the water when I faintly heard the sound of footsteps getting louder and louder… Oh no! I’m not wearing towel at the moment, I looked about to find the towel. Damn it’s a few inches away from the bath

“Hey Kleude it’s time for a hot bath!” Blood yelled, oh crap I hope he(or anybody) doesn’t come in just yet…

He opened the door with a loud slam, wearing nothing but a towel from the waist down, I was already wrapped up.

“Hey there, Ariel told me you were bathing so I thought of taking an early bath as well.”

“…”

He grinned, dipping his feet on the water gripping his towel with his good hand “Ah I want to feel my whole body in the hot water.”

Dip his whole body on the hot water? Oh no… he’s going to dip in nude like I did…

I quickly left the bathroom and shut the door.

“Hey why are you leaving!?” Blood yelled.

I shuddered, putting my clothes on from the blurr on the door I can tell he took off his towel.

After getting dressed I left the bathroom.

“Hi” said Ariel.

“H-hello” I said walking to the bedroom.

Later on we went to the countryside, Mom is happily walking around the countryside taking in the fresh air, Dad is teaching Sarah to speak properly with Mrs Vermillion, Mr Vermillion and Mrs Maverick are in town and Jet, Ariel, Blood and me are walking around the forest.

“Ahh now I know why Heidi is so happy being in the middle of the countryside” said Ariel.

“Heidi?” Jet cocked his head.

“A girl from a book of the same name.”

“Can you bring your book for me to read someday?”

“Of course-“she saw blonde drills and a blue head from a distance, she followed the direction.

We decided to follow her.

Naru is in a ridiculously frilly dress and Lancelot is dressed like some butler.

“Wow slavery” I said.

“He just likes dressing like that” said Naru.

“If that’s what you say…”

“Hello Naru, hello Lancelot” said Ariel.

“Oh hello err…” Naru scratched her head.

“Ariel Vermillion.”

“So what brings you here?”

“We were just enjoying the fresh air.”

“But hey it’s nice to see you two again!” said Blood.

Naru looked at Blood’s broken arm grimacing “Subaru’s sorry about what happened to you.”

“It’s okay, I’m not angry at him at all.”

“But he said your friend is.”

I frowned “Well he’s the one who asked Blood to go riding down a hill.”

“He doesn’t realize-“

I stormed off back to Mom’s area clinging to her arms as she continued walking.

“Ah you’re going to walk with me?” Mom asked patting my head.

I clung to her tighter nodding, she smiled at me “You are growing up…”

“Mama…”

“I bet you will grow into a handsome young man…”

I looked up, I want to stay as a kid just a bit longer! I don’t wanna grow up now!

We continued our walk until she gotten tired and have to rest.

We returned to the inn and spent the rest of the day playing on Blood’s PS2.

7/6/2005

And the days passed, Ariel often hung around with Naru and Lancelot and became friends with them, the rest of us do hang out with her but not as often as when we were at home.

Blood seems so happy during then like really happy even though his left arm is broken and in a sling.

Jet and me are enjoying our holiday as well.

But one night I decided to talk to Blood alone when everyone else decided to play some card games.

Blood was sitting near a lake looking at the crystal clear water reflecting his face and the sky.

He smiled at as I sat down next to him.

“This is a fun week” he said, I nodded “But we have to return home soon…”

“Yeah…”

His smile faded “And back seeing ‘them’ again…”

“Blood?”

He smiled again “It’s okay, we’ll try to overcome them!”

I looked at him, he’s trying to be so optimistic…

I patted his spikes “Yes we’ll try to overcome it Bloody…”

We smiled at each other, I hope this will come true… I’m sick of being picked on everyday in school.

8/6/2005

We packed up and Mr Vermillion drove us back home, it’s so nice to be at home again even if I have to see those bullies again.

But I am suspecting that Blood might not be as cheerful as he lets on…


	8. Chapter 8

25/12/2005

It’s getting closer to the end of the year when I’m no longer a kid and am officially a teenager while my friends are still so far away from hitting teenhood…

Ariel, during then while we were still celebrating Christmas decided to invite us to her house.

We walked for twenty minutes when Ariel stopped.

We looked at the house in front of her, wow it’s huger than both Blood and my house put together… How are we going to find our way?

“Gees Ariel your house is soooo fancy” said Blood.

“I’ll show you a tour of my house” said Ariel.

“Gees great I bet it’s a forest inside…” I mumbled.

“What did you say?”

“Err nothing.”

Ariel opened the gate and went inside her massive house.

The floor is shining and gleaming of ceramic tiles, the wall was had intricate patterns and the room is nicely decorated with pillars and vases on top of them and some oil painting are framed on the walls.

“W-whoa is your father a millionaire?” Jet asked.

“Y-yes…” said Ariel.

“Did anyone ever try to befriend you before?” I asked.

“Yes but I noticed they only befriended me when I’m rich.”

“Oh.”

It took two hours for her to show the entire house and even then I’m not sure where I am most of the time.

Blood and Jet seemed confused as well.

We hung out in her bedroom reading her books, Ariel decided to pop this question to me.

“Hey Kleude what is your school like?”

“M-my school?”

“I want to see your school, I know you said that you hated it but I still want to see.”

I scratched my cheek, should I show her my school? She’s my friend after all… I should show her…

“Okay Ariel I will show you how my school is like tomorrow.”

And that’s that, we got lost trying to find our way out and took an hour to get to the exit.

26/12/2005

Mom is reading the newspaper, Jet is playing with Sarah saying random words for her to say and I’m reading one of my old books.

“So you’re going to show Ariel our school this afternoon?” Jet asked me, sticking his finger in front of Sarah.

“Yeah” I giggled when Sarah closed her little hands around his finger.

“Sarah you’re going to go to school in two years, say school…”

“Skooh skooh!” Sarah cheered.

There was a knock on the door, I sigh closing my book to get the door.

Ariel is in front of the door her long blue rattail hair braided hanging down her shoulders.

“I’m going to show Ariel my school for a while Mom, keep dinner hot for me!” I called.

“Of course dear” said mom.

As we travelled to my school.

“Hey it’s just a few days before you turned 13 right?” said Ariel.

“Well one and a half month if you wanna be accurate…” I said.

“How does it feel to be closer and closer to teenhood?”

“…” I looked on the ground.

“Kleude?”

“I-I…”

She kept quiet as we continued walking.

We finally stopped in front of my school.

“And this is Mislead School” I said.

“It looks like a regular school.”

“Well it does but once you meet some of the kids in my school…”

“Mmm…”

I sigh crossing my arms “What kind of school do you go to Ariel?”

“Adina Elementary, Dad said I should go to Gunrock Jr high when I get older and mix with ordinary kids.”

“Adina Elementary… isn’t that one of the most expensive schools?”

“Yes but you saw my home yesterday, you know he got money to afford to Adina.”

“But lucky you to Gunrock in the future… I wish I could even afford one year in there.”

“…”

We looked at my school without saying anything.

Suddenly I saw curly brown hair holding a cardboard box to school. What is Leslie doing here?

“What’s Leslie doing?” Ariel asked.

“I don’t know…” I walked quietly in so as to not alert her, she’s usually up to something no good…

I walked in my tippy toes as she walked into a classroom…

I turned behind a brief while, Ariel is also following us but she’s quite a bit behind.

When Leslie stopped she undid the box, I hid near the entrance. What’s inside the box?

She got out a long colourful stick… with a wick at the end.

Oh crap it’s a fire work!

She got a box of matches in her pocket lighting the match, I have to stop her or else…

“Stop Leslie!” I yelled running into the classroom.

She frowned “I don’t wanna stop pretty kitty boy!”

“Don’t you light that fire cracker!”

“I just wanna have a fire cracker fun in the classroom!”

“But it’s dangerous!”

“You can’t stop me!” she pushed me and locked the door with some keys she got for unknown reasons “I can do whatever I want!”

“H-how did you?”

“Oh it’s easy to find the keys once you know where it is.”

I trembled I can see Ariel through the glass window watching us.

Leslie lit the match, I tried to stop her but she managed to light a firecracker before I could reach her.

Uh oh that isn’t good…

She ran to my direction, leaving the cracker on her original spot and cheered as the fire sizzled and the fire cracker flew into the air and hit the ceiling.

“Yay fire fire!” Leslie yelled.

I trembled as the fire began to spread on the wall, Leslie slapped my back “Isn’t it cool pretty kitty?”

How does she stay so obliviously cheerful even as fire began to catch on the other walls? I don’t get her… I can’t get the key at all since she will hit me if I dare to steal it from her.

However she stopped when she saw that the last wall is catching on fire, we’re trapped inside! Oh dear lord Ariel please run away…

I glanced through the burning door before it collapsed, she’s running away from the school, good!

Leslie was crying collapsing on the floor “I’m gonna die! I’m gonna die!”

I should tell her it’s all her fault but I’m too scared to even speak, I don’t want to die! Mom, Dad, Jet and Sarah would be so upset!

But we’re surrounded by fire all over, how do we get out? I hope Ariel do something before the fire catches the ceiling…

The fire was spreading to the ceiling now… we had to dodge before it collapsed on us.

The spot we can stand on are getting smaller and smaller, Leslie is crying hysterically by now…

As we are stuck in one spot the sound of a fire alarm perked my mind, there’s hope after all!

A hose of water put out the fire, the charred wall collapsing to a heap of ash.

“Good they’re still alive” said a fire fighter, we were still too rattled to even get up so they had to help us out as they get rid of the first in the rest of the class.

When we got out of class I noted that the fire also spread to the hallway and they had to put out the fire there as well…

Mom, Sarah, Jet, Ariel and her family, Blood and his family, Leslie’s family, the cops and the Principal are outside with a crowd watching us.

Ariel cried running to my direction “Oh Kleude I’m so glad you’re alive!”

I gasp as she put her arms around me, Mom, Jet and Blood also put their surrounded themselves over me. It’s getting suffocating…

“When Ariel told us what happened we thought you were a goner!” Jet screamed.

“Thank god you’re safe!” said Blood.

We had to break apart when the police requested for Ariel.

“So young lady did you see how the fire started?” the police asked.

“Yes my friend and I were wondering what the girl over there” she pointed to Leslie “was up to, I decided to stay far away so she can catch me, she was playing with fireworks.”

“Is it true what she said?” the police asked Leslie.

“She’s lying! I wasn’t playing with fire works inside the classroom!”

“You’re lying!” I yelled.

“Waaahhh this kitty is racist to me because I’m a normal human being and he’s only defending that meanie because she has blue hair!”

“I’m not racist!”

“Yes you are, the only thing you accept is a blue haired mutant and a super Saiyan!”

“He’s not racist!” Blood yelled.

“That’s right, it’s you who’s racist!” said Ariel.

“Ariel? Blood?” I said, they’re surprisingly harsher than I expected.

“You’re our friend Kleude, we won’t let her accuse you of such horrible lies” said Ariel.

“T-thank you…”

“Why were you playing with fire crackers?” the police asked Leslie.

“I was just having fun okay? The stupid firecracker decided to set itself on fire! I have nothing to do with this!”

“You should stop then, they are very dangerous.”

“Why should I stop? Mom brings them to light at home and Dad never protests!”

“That’s right” said her mother “There’s nothing wrong with that, we can just call a fireman to put out the fire right dear?”

Her father a very small mousy looking man squeaked “Y-yes honey!”

“See?”

“She’s just having fun” said the Principal.

“But what if Leslie and Kleude died in the fire-“

“She’s trying to make me look bad!” Leslie screamed, punching Ariel “She wants to tell everyone to defend her horrible racist half cat friend!”

Jet, Blood and I gasped, looking at Ariel, she’s going to cry!

However she unexpectedly got up, approached Leslie and punched her back!

Everyone gasped, Leslie’s mom was horrified, slapping Ariel.

However she didn’t relent “Don’t you dare get your way out of this! It’s your fault for bringing those fire crackers to school!”

“You’re a fucking bitch you get me arrested to make that barbarian look good!”

“Don’t you dare call Kleude a barbarian, he’s not a ferocious monster! He’s just like the rest of us!”

“You are just-“ before she could hit Ariel, a cop pushed both the girls aside.

“I think we need to talk to this girl and her mom for supporting this” said the cop.

“And the Principal needs to be dealt with as well” said another cop.

We blinked our eyes “All of you should go home while we deal with this” said the first cop.

We stopped by my house.

Jet cried again, putting his arms around me.

Sarah also seems to be rattled but she didn’t cry…

“Hey Sarah…” I said “It’s okay big big brother is okay.”

“Big brother…” said Sarah.

We stopped, she said a word correctly!

She tugged my hair.

“Big brother eez habing hare lahk castard!”

I sigh as she tugged harder.

Mom made her let go so I can go to my bedroom and sit on the bed and rest.

I jumped on my bed sinking on my face. What a disaster of a tour…

I turned my head when the door opened, Blood is in my room wearing the dumbest looking smile he can put on.

“Hey want to play some game tonight?” he asked “I’ll let you pick any game you want.”

“Keep that to yourself Bloody” I said.

Blood’s big grin fell, he didn’t say anything and shut the door.

I just want to stay in my room…

When nighttime passed I realized that I have been a total ass to Blood. I’m going to apologize to him for trying to comfort me.

I should apologize to him, I know he doesn’t hold grudges for very long but still…

I got out of my bedroom, Mom is playing with Jet and Sarah.

“Feeling better?” Mom asked.

“A little…” I opened the door “Mom can I see Blood tonight?”

“Of course you can dear.”

I smiled, heading off.

I knocked on his door, his mother got the door.

“Oh hello Kleude, are you here to visit my son?” she said.

“Yes Mrs Maverick.”

She allowed me into their kitchen where Blood is eating leek porridge.

“Blood, Kleude has come to see you!” Mrs Maverick yelled.

Blood turned to face me and smiled, I noted there’s a slight hint of grimace.

“Blood I’m sorry about what I said to you…”

“It’s okay, you were just upset about what happened.”

“Blood…”

“Don’t worry about it.”

I tried to smile for him but deep down I just want to cry in someone’s shoulders.

After Blood and his mom finished their dinner we headed to Blood’s room.

On his room we sat on the floor “Kleude you are my bestest friend…” he said.

“Don’t you have any friends before you moved here?”

“Yeah I do but we aren’t on a particularly great term with each other” he stopped smiling.

“Blood?”

“What did you do to deserve such a thing? You don’t deserve it! You deserve way better than that!” he broke into tears, hugging me.

I tried to reply back but I found myself unable to speak.

“Kleude if only I could do something to help you!”

“B-Blood…” I trembled and cried as well, it’s hurting him inside as well and he’s trying to hide it from me!


	9. Chapter 9

5/1/2006

Tomorrow the school reopens, oh how I dread that day…

Mom tried to reassure me that it won’t be so bad since they’re getting older a few days ago but I don’t believe it.

I tugged at my hair, it’s growing little by little since I thought about growing out a bit since Jet was growing his out as well, now hitting halfway down my neck…

I looked down at my body, I swore gotten just a bit taller since last year with longer arms and legs…

I got out of my bed, looking at the corner of the wall I measured myself every year.

2005-4.10ft…

I marked my current height on the wall and grabbed a ruler from my pencil box to measure it. 2 inches taller… I’m taller than Mom now!

I looked at my tail, I have to wonder if Mom, Jet and me are blonde why are our ears and tail a tawny brown?(And Dad and Sarah has light grey ears and tails next to their mousy hair)

I sigh leaning near the door, I could hear some talking through the door about schools, I opened the door, Ariel and her Dad are talking to my parents.

“Mr and Mrs Fleming, it comes to my note your two boys are having a hard time in their school according to my daughter” said Mr Vermillion.

“Kleude’s just exaggerating, it can’t be that bad” said Dad.

“From what I’ve known a fire started by one of his classmate when she decided to have some fun.”

“Well the school is going to reopen tomorrow.”

“Listen Mr Fleming Ariel told me about what your two sons told her about their school life, the elder one apparently was picked on every day and the other one didn’t have any friends since he was the younger brother of that ‘anti social freak’.”

“Kleude should learn to be more sociable, I keep telling that stubborn kid that.”

“It’s not his choice to have a lot of friends…” Ariel mumbled.

“Well he has to.”

”But it’s unhealthy for your sons to have such a hostile environment, Ariel and me decided to pay for your sons to go to a better school with a more healthy environment.”

“If that will benefit our boys and help them, I accept” said Mom.

I perked up, is there hope to be away from that hell hole?

However my hopes were shattered when Dad slammed the table “No!” he yelled “I want my boys to be tolerant and tough!”

“Being belittled and cold shouldered won’t help” said Mr Vermillion.

“Nonsense I had to deal with bullies when I was young as well and look where am I.”

“But Mr Fleming what I’ve seen is really bad” said Ariel.

“Well you never been around bullies and I keep telling your Kleude is exaggerating it all, he’ll learn to get used to it when he gets older.”

Everyone was silent for a few seconds, what is going to happen…

“Mr Fleming what if it’s Sarah when she goes to school?” Ariel asked, her voice is rather low now…

“I would report these bullies and if the uppers don’t do anything I’ll take her to better school!” Dad yelled.

“You care about Sarah’s welfare yet…” Ariel got up “You don’t care about Kleude and Jet at all!”

“Shut up I do care about them!”

“Then why do you insist on letting them stay in that school when you know it’s unhealthy for them!”

“Mind your own business little girl, they’re sons and I know what is good for them!”

Everybody stopped talking, Ariel grimaced as her father led her out of our house.

I am so dreading tomorrow…

6/1/2006

I practically had to drag myself to school, Jet doesn’t seem to be too thrilled either, even though he tries to hide what he’s feeling.

“Hey there cutie want to go out to the meadow with me tonight?” said a familiar voice. It’s Taro.

We watched as he’s talking to a girl.

“It will be fun, what do you say?”

“Hmm I dunno…” said the girl.

She gasped as Taro put an arm around her shoulders “Oh but the meadow is beautiful… And you are a beautiful girl… I’m sure you will enjoy it with a handsome guy like me.”

“O-okay…” Taro grinned, breaking apart from the girl, he caught sight of Jet and me.

“Oh it’s the girly cat and his girly brother you two are more like sisters!”

“We are not girls” I said.

“Whatever freaks” he blew a raspberry at us.

“He’s so mean…” Jet clung to my arm.

“I have to deal with that guy and the others everyday…”

My brother stared at me, well hello teen hood in school…

Our first class for this year is science, the teacher just explained a bit for five minutes and told us to read the textbook for the rest of the class. When I’m still reading, I felt something hit the back of my head, I turned to see where it’s from.

Taro is blowing tiny crumpled pieces of paper at me, I dodged one before it could hit my eyes.

“This guy is so worthless, don’t you dare make friends with him” said Taro.

“O-okay…” said the girl.

I groaned, this year will be another horrible horrible year…

After going through a painful first day, Jet and I visited Blood. Ariel also visited him.

We were in his bedroom as he set up his PS2.

“Hey guess what you guys?” he asked.

“Your father visited you?” Jet asked.

“Did you get a pair of barbells?” Ariel asked.

“Wrong, I got…” he took out a glass case with a game named Star Ocean Second story.

“Ooo new game” said Jet.

“And it’s a game more than just one of us can play!” Blood chirped.

When the game started we have a choice of two characters to pick.

“So who shall we pick?” Blood asked.

“How about we pick our choice and the highest number is the one that gets chosen?” I said.

“Okay! You first.”

“I’m taking the boy, he has a cooler outfit.”

“I like the girl better” said Ariel “She looks so sweet.”

“I like the girl better too” said Jet.

“I like the guy better” said Blood.

We paused.

“Well it’s a tie…” I said.

“How are we going to decide?” Ariel asked.

“Hmm how about a dice roll?” Blood asked, “If we get odd numbers we pick the boy, if we get even we get the girl.”

The rest of us nodded.

Blood tossed the dice on the ground. He got a 3.

He picked the boy.

“What shall we rename him?” he asked us.

We suggested names like Mario, Pikachu, Toad, Wario, Sonic the Hedgehog, Cloud and Leonardo.

However Blood replaced the name Claude with Sora and started the game.

“Oh lord that voice is terrible” I said.

“It’s soooo deep” said Jet.

“Is that the hero speaking?” Blood asked.

As he droned on about a hero, we realized yes its Claude speaking.

“That voice is so not heroic” I said “It sounds like something for a mentally retarded jock.”

After the intro is over, we see the hero, his dad and some soldiers walking inside a dark place.

Claude’s dad talked to his son and gave him a gun in case they get attacked.

Once we can finally steer Claude around Blood handed the controller to me to do whatever I like.

I opened the menu and looked at the interface, one of the stuff in option is to recolour the entire menu screen, top left is red, top right is blue, bottom left is white, bottom right is green. Okay then.

I wandered to a shiny area and pressed X and an event started which sent everyone to a cave yippee.

And after a bit of talk I can steer Claude again, there was a strange little tower thing that looks 2D like Claude and the people are.

“Hey a save spot!” said Blood.

I don’t know what’s going on so I decided to save before continuing.

More events… And somehow Claude is in a forest and can’t use his cell phone.

And he sees Rena being stalked by a weird mutant gorilla and I have to steer him to the creature.

“This is bad here’s the enemy” said Claude, god I hate his voice.

I pressed the X button since that was how you attack in Kingdom Hearts.

What! He dealt 0 damage to the monster?

The monster pummeled Claude and took a large chunk of his health.

I pressed X and kept dealing 0 damage until the monster killed me and we got a game over.

I grumbled handing the controller to Ariel.

She reloaded the game and we have to see the same event again and go and stop the monster again.

Ariel pressed the circle button, nothing happened, she tried square and got a menu.

There’s a crossed out icon called Heraldry, one for items, one to run away which is also crossed out and one for strategy.

She looked into items which is completely empty and has to shut off the menu.

Ariel decided to try pressing L1, the hero ran to the monster and used his gun to shoot a plasma which unleashed a fricking scifi special effect!

After a few shots the monster vanished and Claude said “We did it!” and gained a level going ‘Hey!”

And more event where the girl runs away in fright and Claude has to follow her where she is just walking around.

And she introduced herself where they walk out of the forest and into a village where she has no idea what he’s talking about.

And she introduced her village and decided to go home.

Ariel is stuck going into every house to figure which one is Rena’s house.

Claude went into a church, a house with two people with floating hearts on top of their head yech, a grocery shop, a house with two kids, and finally we found Rena talking to a woman with long dark blue hair without pointy ears.

The woman turned out to be her mother whose name is Westa and Rena decided to tour Claude around.

Ariel accessed the menu and looked into Rena’s status.

“Why does she have 0 intelligence?” Jet asked.

“She must be stupid” I said.

Ariel renamed Rena, Peach before leaving the menu and taking Claude into every building including one Claude didn’t went into the first time.

I let out a gag when Rena was saying the couples in that couple house are so lovey dovey it’s embarrassing. I agree with you Rena…

Since Claude can’t leave we have to head back to Rena’s house where the table is filled with 2D food and Westa made it for Claude and after the meal Claude is able to be steered again.

As soon as he goes right side, he’s in Rena’s room and decided to leave.

He can’t go downstairs either so Ariel steered him back to the bigger room where Westa appeared and accidentally let out the fact he’s the hero from a legend and panicked.

Claude went downstairs where there’s an old man with long pointy ears sitting by the table and we have to see him drone on and on about something called the Sorcery globe and Claude admitted he’s not the legendary hero.

The next day the old man warned Claude not to use the gun and gave him some equipments and there’s a message to indicate he equipped them.

“Okay Jet here you go” she handed the controller to my brother.

When Claude exited the village a girl gave him something before he can be steered again.

“Hey cool the world map is in 3D like the battle area!” said Jet.

“Too bad it’s so blocky…” said Blood.

“So how do we find monsters?”

“Oh you just walk around and when the screen blurs up they send you to an area with a monster, well that’s how it went in Final Fantasy…”

“Okay…”

After a bit of walking what Blood said came true, there were some bandits.

Jet attacked with X but found that some of the bandits managed to surround him and hit him before he could attack back, however he managed to kill all of them and earn some experience.

The next set were a lot more bandits than the last set.

Claude was soon almost dying and Jet suddenly decided to use the gun since Claude is a bit further away so he the bandits have to take a while to reach him.

“Hey do you think it will give any impact?” Ariel asked.

“Who knows” I shrugged.

Jet decided to go back to the village to let Claude rest.

After five battles Claude is at level 4 and he handed the controller to Blood.

After all of us managed to pass the controller to each other at least once, Claude is at level 7 and Jet is controlling him again, he steered to the next town.

However he couldn’t go to the other side of the town and decided to talk to everyone until there’s an event from talking to some people in a mansion and leaving where Claude decided to go back to Arlia.

When he arrived almost everyone is at the entrance and the hero asked what is going on.

“Oh my Rena is kidnapped!” said Blood.

“And we have to save her!” said Ariel.

“Back to Salva…” Jet groaned, walking all the way back and getting into a battle with these strange creatures holding spears.

And the mansion is locked so Claude has to use his gun and it runs out of bullets(I have to wonder how he managed not to run out when we spent every battle just using it).

Jet decided to open the menu and look up skills, the gun move is gone.

There was a new skill on RI though however unlike the gun it cost something called TP.

After closing the menu Jet steered Claude around until he’s inside what looks like a library and Claude noted Rena’s hairclip and something shiny on a statue.

After running to the statue, a bookshelf moved to reveal a dark area.

“Hey cool a cave!” said Blood.

“And an injured man…” I said.

“This Allen Tax person must be really bad…” said Ariel.

After getting past the man Jet wandered around the mine trying to find his way.

He got into another encounter before he found out the main entrance is blocked by guards.

After wandering around and three more encounters he handed the controller to me.

Since Claude is rather high leveled I managed to not die as I try to find the way, there is one area with a caution sigh so I decided to avoid it.

But oh there’s a save point nearby I should save.

Unfortunately before I made it I could another encounter, this time with hopping pink rabbits.

They are hard to hit and they are quite strong but all the same I managed to kill them while Claude still have a few HP left. I healed him with blueberries and handed the controller to Ariel.

She saved our progress and headed to the next room.

“We’re coming to save you Rena!” Blood yelled.

Claude managed to get Rena out of Allan’s horrible grasp and all of a sudden Allen attacked them.

“Whoa! What happened to him?” Jet said.

“And Rena is going to help” said Blood, he turned to Ariel “Do you want to play as Rena?”

“Of course I do” she said.

Blood handed the second controller to her and took the first one.

When Ariel pressed attacked she noticed Rena didn’t move, she pressed every button bringing the menu once until suddenly from pressing L2 the word Manual appeared and she can control Rena.

However when Allen attacked Rena she lost a lot of health.

“Oh no!” Ariel cried taking Rena away from Allan, she opened the tab again.

She noticed that there is a tab named Magic in place of Hereldry and accessed it.

She selected Heal and used it on Rena to recover some health.

However by then Claude managed to defeat Allen, resulting in both of them getting experience and Rena leveling up.

“Is he dead?” Ariel asked.

“Just why did he turn into a monster?” Jet asked.

“O-oh he’s alive after all!”

“And seemingly normal…” I said.

According to Allen himself he has been possessed by the Sorcery stone, not sure how reliable he is on that.

And everyone is in joy when Rena returns and night time passed and Claude has to find Rena who is wandering around town.

Once Claude found her on the bridge they began to talk.

“Gees so much cutscenes and so little to do…” I mumbled.

“Whoa Westa is not really Rena’s mom!” said Blood.

“I wonder who her real mother is…” said Jet.

“Guess we’ll have to find out” Ariel said.

And the next day passed and we are on the world map again.

“Yay Rena joined” said Blood.

“At level 2…” I said.

“Let’s train her!”

With that Blood resumed as Claude and Ariel as Rena training up Rena.

Surprisingly Rena is quite strong for such a dainty looking girl using just her bare fist but she still has to heal herself quite often since her defense is poor.

After five battles passed and Rena is at level 3, Jet resumed as Rena and I resumed as Claude for five more battles.

Rena is level 4 and Claude leveled up.

This time Blood decided to replace Jet.

We have to decide who picks Rena since both of us prefer Claude.

“What do you think of Rena?” Blood asked.

“A bit wet but okay, you?” I asked.

“Too cutesy.”

“Guess I’ll take her then…”  
And after five more battles getting Rena to level 5, we exchanged places.

Like us Jet and Ariel are fighting for who gets Rena.

“How about a dice roll?” I asked.

They nodded.

“Okay even number is Ariel, odd is Jet.”

The dice rolled a 5…

“Well brother you get to be Rena.”

Ariel sigh taking over Claude.

After five more battles Rena is able to handle fighting monsters without healing herself so we decided to head to Salva.

One we are past Salva we continued forward where the sky is somehow changing to night time.

“What a cool effect!” said Blood.

Claude and Rena arrived at Cross and decided to rest in an inn for the night.

The woman on the counter turned out to be Rena’s aunt.

“Boyfriend huh?” I mumbled “From every craptacular romance novel I saw, I’m gonna bet that they are so gonna end up together…”

Inside a room, some guy named Dias is mentioned.

“Oooo rivalry for the love of Rena…” I said.

“I wonder what this Dias guy is like” said Ariel.

“Probably a cool loner type like all those not hero guy I see in anime.”

“Or maybe he’s the biggest sweetheart for Rena to like him.”

“But still poor Claude” said Blood.

And the next day passed and we head for the castle with a loooooong boring interview with the King about the sorcery globe and getting permission to Lacour and visiting some place named Klik to get there.

When we leave the castle there is a war with a woman and a man in robe that resembles a purple sock.

“Why is she wearing shower curtains?” Blood asked.

“She probably feels cold” I said.

Apparently she stole his map and she denies it and Claude and Rena decides to help her as the man starts attacking her, however she managed to defeat him.

“I love that special effect” said Ariel.

“Me too” said Blood.

The man got chased out and she decided to ask Claude and Rena to accompany her for helping her.

“Should we help her?” Ariel asked.

“She looks seedy” I said.

“Yeah” Blood and Jet nodded.

“Hmm…” Ariel picked no.

However the option came up again and again.

Ariel picked yes instead.

And we have this woman saddled with us…

I looked at the time, it’s getting late!

“Blood we need to go home now or Mom will get worried” I said.

“Okay…” Blood saved our progress and shut the game off.

We waved goodbye to him.

When we were running back home I stopped, Moton is passing by!

He glared at Jet and me and frowned, squinting his eyes.

“What are you losers doing here?” he asked.

“W-we’re just heading home” I said, Jet clutched my arm, he’s afraid too… I should be brave…

“And what were you two doing? Playing hookey that late? Lame.”

“We were just playing games with one of our friends” said Jet.

“Playing games huh? How silly, you two are way too old to play silly games” Moton snorted, snapping his fingers in between my eyes “What a child you are getting into blondie. Ew that custard yellow is so artificial”

“You’re blond too…”

“Shut up scar face, the fact you have that huge scar means you are weak!”

“Nobody calls my brother weak!” I yelled, slapping him “You are weak for calling Jet that!”

He frowned “Urg such a babyish behavior… no wonder no one wants to be friends with you except those two babies.”

I trembled in rage, Ariel and Blood are not babies… He frowned and walked away.

I wish I tell on that damn Moton but he’s so smart and good looking everyone loves him…

“Kleude calm down…” said Jet.

“That Moton who does he think he is…”

“But if you get into a fight…”

I sigh, patting his head “You’re right... They might be able to get away with this but I can’t.”

We continued walking home, I still wish I could get those horrible people reported but nobody in their family cares about what they do.


	10. Chapter 10

22/1/2006

For some reason the math teacher is teaching us last year’s topic…

Why does no one tell her that?

They just look bored, some of them sleeping in class and others playing pranks.

I raised my hand.

“Yes?” she asked.

“That’s last year’s topic!” I yelled.

“Shut up, I know what I’m doing, so what if it’s last year topic cat girl?”

She scowled, droning on.

My head fell on my table. So much for telling her that…

“Isn’t he such a wet goodie goodie?” said Eku.

“Yeah what a wimp!” said one of her friends.

After school they continued talking in front of me.

“Just look at that wimpy girly cat boy” said Eku “He look so simpering and down.”

“Yeah like he’s gonna cry” said Taro.

“Cry cry cry little cry baby, go back to your momma’s womb!”

“Yeah your mom is so weak because she had to raise such a useless simpering kitten!”

“Mommy’s little boy is so precious to her” one of Eku’s other friends whose name I can’t remember pointed out.

“Yeah he must be girly because he’s such a momma’s boy!” said Eku “And his mom must be so wimpy for having so many simpering kids!”

That does it…

I approached them, punching Eku on the floor “Don’t you call my mom a wimp! She’s a better woman than you’ll ever be.”

“Oh no he’s in love with his mom!” Eku screamed waving her arms, smacking me on my face “Help I am attacked by an in breeder!”

“What is going on!?” a loud voice yelled.

All of us stopped, it’s the history Teacher scowling at us.

“Oh Mr Tobio this cat is being an asshole to me!” Eku screamed.

I scuttled to the wall. This is not good… she always have the teacher in her favour…

“What’s with the bruise on your face?” the teacher glared at me “Did you just fall on your face? What a clumsy fool…”

“He punched me because I merely suggested that he is not very manly looking so he must have taken after his mom!”

“WHAT!?” he clutched my shoulders lifting me two inches off the ground “Did you just punch her for such a thing?”

“She’s lying, she called my mom a wimp for giving birth to my brother, sister and me and she called me an inbred!”

“LIAR! You’re just being racist to get away with punching her! Eku is always honest and a good person you racist cat!”

Mr Tobio slammed my face on the wall “That’s what you get for lying, you dishonest little brat!”

I collapsed on the floor as he walked away, shaking and crying. Did Dad really endure such a thing? I have to ask him. If he does, how does he deal with it?

After school they were at it again.

“Hey pretty boy you look like a girl!” Taro yelled.

I cringed as they went on about all sort of girls stuff.

“And I bet you’re gonna pierce your ears, nose and tongue!” Leslie said “And you’ll be a mecha cat!”

“Ooo mecha cat shiny” said Eku “It will be an improvement for ole kitty here.”

“Yepsie!” the girls high fived.

I can’t bear this girly talk…

I wish I wish to god I will be a bronzed muscled god like Dad...

“And somehow they’re so worthless they father is rarer than an abominable snowman” said Eku poking Red on the ribs “Isn’t that right Red?”

“Yes” said Red.

“He must be so ashamed.”

With that Red pushed me down the ground.

“What a wussy girly cat” said Red.

I crawled my way away from them as the girls and Eku’s other friends laughed.

When they realized I was running away they chased after me across the street.

I have to get back home as soon before they catch me.

Well it’s a good thing I’m a fast runner… I thought to myself.

I turned to a corner, however I bumped into someone.

I gasped at the person in front of me. He’s a tall muscular man with a bushy beard and slicked brown hair.

I shuddered, he looks dangerous!

The man just stared at me, what is he going to do with me?

The others stopped as well when they saw the man.

The man scowled “What were you doing with the cat boy?”

“Move it big boy” said Eku.

“Yeah this hillybilly inbred of a cat and human deserve it!” said Leslie.

“Yeah what a creep!”

“He’s a monster of a person to have a cat breeding with people” said Red.

I shuddered, I want to back off but I’m surrounded and closed in to just walk away…

The man frowned, what’s he thinking now?

He yelled at them “Stop making fun of this little boy just because he has cat ears and a tail!”

My heart skipped a beat, is this man defending me?

“This boy is so scared, what have you done to make him like this?”

“He started it!” Leslie screamed “Eku just told him he looks girly because of his mom!”

“Telling him that will make him feel bad about himself, you should know it by now.”

“Well it’s his fault for looking girly” said Eku.

I looked down on the ground. Oh when will I get big like Dad…

“It’s something he cannot control!” the man yelled.

I looked at the man, he’s helping me despite what they are saying. It’s something nobody in school ever done!

“You can’t just pick on him just because he’s different.”

“Well he refused to be friends with us” said Red.

“It doesn’t matter he didn’t do anything to deserve that.”

With that the man backed off, leading me away with them.

“T-thank you…” I said.

“It disgust me to see that you were chased by people like these” said the man.

“What’s your name?”

“Leon, are these people always like these to you?”

“Yeah…”

“Do your parents know?”

“Yes…”

“So why don’t they do anything?”

“We don’t have the money to pay for a better school. Well actually one of my friend tried to pay for my brother and me to go to a better school but my father said otherwise…”

“I see…”

“Sir do you think I will be big and strong in the future? My dad is big and muscular even though my mother is small and slim…”

“It’s a possibility I was pretty small when I was younger.”

“So where are you heading to sir?”

“I plan to see my wife and son.”

I watched him as he headed off to where I’m assuming his family is.

I should head home and wash my face, it hurts from getting scrapped twice.

Jet and Ariel are helping each other in their studies, Ariel is poor at geography while Jet is bad in math.

“Your face looks awful” said Ariel as I passed by.

After washing my face and applying medicine I felt a bit better, I headed back to where Ariel and Jet are to do homework.

While we were almost done, Mom returned home with a food with an obnoxious strong smell.

Chili dog… all of us had to block our nose, she likes ordering the super spicy special which reeks if she’s nearby.

She approached Sarah who’s playing with ABC blocks on our playing spot.

“Want some chili dog Sarah?” she asked.

“Yepsie!” said Sarah, she’s getting better at talking but for some reason she likes to use some rather unusual way of speaking I thought to myself.

“Say chili dogs then…”

“Chili dogs!”

Mom smiled, splitting the chili dog in half and giving her the half with the wrapping so she doesn’t spill it everywhere.

After we finished our homework, we looked at the time. We got two hours before bedtime, we decided to play Star Ocean Second Story with Blood.

When we arrived at his house, he’s at the entrance with his mom.

“Hey Blood, what are you so excited about?” Ariel asked.

“Oh wonderful news Dad is coming to see my mom and me!”

“That’s amazing!”

“Yeah it’s been years since I last saw him!”

Why does his news sound familiar…

There was a knocked on the door, Mrs Maverick got the door.

My eyes widened when I saw who was at the entrance.

Leon!

“Welcome Leon dear” said Mrs Maverick.

“It’s good to see you again too Muriel” said Leon.

“How’s Blood?”

Blood squealed, hugging his father.

“Hey there Blood!”

“Daddy!” Blood yelled.

I glanced at Leon and Blood. So this is the dad that never saw Blood ever since they moved to Asterrica…

Leon noticed me “Oh it’s you again” he said to me.

“B-Blood is your son?” I asked.

“Yeah, are you one of his friends?”

“That’s right!” said Blood “Kleude is my best friend, Dad!”

“Well your little friend has you for a friend so good for him.”

Blood grinned taking Leon to his room.

“Have you ever played with video games before Dad?” Blood asked.

“No.”

“I want you to watch my friends and me play this game!”

Jet, Ariel and me cocked our head as he turned on the game.

Blood handed the controller to us, 1P to me, 2P to Jet and 3P to Ariel.

Since none of us like Celine from her intro Ariel is stuck with her since she’s 3P.

She tried to rename Celine.

D-o-n-k-e-y after she hit spacebar she realized she ran out of space, Ariel deleted the name, put DK and confirmed.

“Were you going for Donkey Kong?” I asked.

“Yes” said Ariel.

Just where is cross cave anyway? I have to wander around randomly to find a cave.

During the first encounter, Ariel tried to attack with Celine.

However it turned out that Celine is very weak physically and got a fair amount of HP chipped off so Rena has to heal her.

Ariel fiddled around while we beat up the monsters.

“L1 and R1 does nothing…” she said “Oh!”

She accessed the menu just when Rena is attacking a bandit, there’s the Hereldry tab.

There were some spells, she decided to try Fire Bolt.

However the Rena managed to kill the bandit once battle resumed so all Celine did was waste MP to cast a spell when every enemies are dead.

“Did I ever say how squeaky Rena sound like?” I asked.

“Celine actually sounds pretty good though” said Jet.

“Next to retarded voice Claude.”

We managed to hit four more battles before I finally found a cave.

By then I gave Jet 1P, Ariel 2P and 3P to Blood.

“Aww I have to be Celine?” Blood whined.

“Well I am going to be Celine after another five battles and you get to be Claude for the next battle” I said.

“Okay…”

Jet explored around the cave, opening chests and trying to find his way.

“Why does everything look the same?” he whined.

“Well caves tend to look like that in RPGs, Jet” said Blood.

Jet grimaced as he tries to find his way.

Five more battles went on and he sits out, Leon is watching us very amused.

We eventually made it to a place with a very large rock.

It turned out to not be the sorcery stone and there was a save point nearby.

Deciding to be cautious Ariel saved the game and headed into the next room.

“That’s a lot of chests” said Ariel.

“Let’s open all of them” said Blood.

Ariel nodded opening every chest one by one, one of them ended up with some monsters falling out of nowhere leading into a battle.

However they were just weak slimes so we won pretty quickly.

The next chest is the book Celine was looking for.

“Wow she can’t read it at all” said Jet.

“So what do we do now?” Blood asked.

“Open the rest of the chests?” said Ariel.

“And hope they don’t have monsters like the previous chest…” I said.

However the other chests just have normal items and we headed out of the cave.

When we were at the entrance Celine thanked us and decided to go back to her home to get the book translated.

There was a choice whether to let her join or not…

“Do we want her to join?” I asked.

“No, I don’t like her” said Ariel.

“Me neither” said Blood.

“She’s annoying to play as” said Jet.

One of my ears twitched a little, I don’t really like her either. I picked no.

And so it ended up with Celine leaving the party and only Claude and Rena remained.

Ariel and me played as Rena and Claude respectively as we try to find where Clik is, considering that we got a boat pass it must be a place near the sea.

When we passed another village planted in the middle of a path five battle passes and we hand the controllers to Blood and Jet.

There’s a port town past that village but as soon as we entered that town it’s called Herlie. Whoops.

We have to backtrack and find more cities near the sea and there is one other city…

This time it’s called Clik.

All of us cheered and high fived.

At the port the sailors told Claude and Rena they have to wait a while so we steered them back to the center of the city.

However there is a weird blue haired boy in tacky clothes who tripped Claude and it turned out he stole his wallet.

So we have to wander around town trying to find who this kid is, some of the town folks called him Ketil.

“Heheh Ketil…” I said “He must run a kettle factory.”

“That’s rude” said Ariel.

“Well he stole our money even though his clothes tell me he should be pretty rich.”

“He does look wealthy…”

After going through the entire city we saw the boy hanging out near a house.

“Go Claude show this kid in tacky disco clothes what you think about him!” I said.

“Wow you’re right, with him up close I can see how weird is outfit is” said Jet.

“Let’s rap!” Blood yelled, putting on a pose.

“It looks like solid gold…” Ariel mumbled.

“Oh dear the boy is crying” said Blood.

“And Rena is angry at Claude… I mean Ketil stole their money.”

After some comforting they decided to let Ketil tour them.

We went into every building again, from one of the houses it confirmed my thought, he was wealthy!

In one of the shop the boy decided to ask one of us to dress up.

We have a choice of Claude and Rena…

“Rena look so cutesy, she needs a new wardrobe” I said.

“Her clothings are cute but I think it would be interesting to see what Ketil puts on her.”

“Yeah” said Ariel.

“Claude’s outfit is fine as it is so Rena” said Blood.

We picked Rena.

The screen faded to black for a second and when it returned, Rena is in a disco outfit.

All of her cracked out laughing.

“Oh my god she looks like a disco star!” Blood yelled.

“Let’s disco!” I yelled.

After a few sentence Rena is back in her old clothes, would be pretty hard to take thing seriously if she spent the rest of the game in a disco outfit.

When we decided to head back to the port there are one angry sailor and two kids walking around.

Ketil made friends with the kids and made the sailor even madder.

Claude and Rena talked to the captain and he said that they are ready and they should go and get prepared for supplies.

“Aw but we are loaded and we are both at level 12” I said “Why can’t we go now?”

Even talking to the captain doesn’t have an option to leave Clik so we have to leave the port.

All of a sudden there is a rumble.

“Oh my, is that an earth quake?” Ariel asked.

“I knew we should have leave Clik at once” I said.

As the hero and everyone ran to the top of the cliff, there is a cutscene in all 3D much smoother than the world map showing Clik crumbling away.

“Well that looks almost as good as the Kingdom Hearts opening” said Blood.

And we can steer Claude again on top of a hill, all of a sudden when talking walking to the corner there is another cutscene in the same smooth 3D where a tsunami washes Clik away.

Once we can steer Claude again it turned out Ketil, his maid, a friend and a few townsfolk are alive.

We headed to the captain who has one sailor remaining and told Claude and Rena to go to Herlie.

“Why couldn’t we just go to Herlie earlier?” I asked.

However two hours have passed so we saved and shut off the game.

“Goodbye Blood!” I said “Have fun with your dad!”

“Bye everyone!” Blood waved back.

When I glanced for a moment Blood seems to be so happy with his father… His father seems happy too… why isn’t he with his family for over 3 years then?


	11. Chapter 11

29/1/2006

Leon stayed for one week, Blood is so overjoyed for one week he barely has any time for the rest of us to spend time with his father.

Today Blood told us Leon went back to Gunrock.

“Even though Dad went back I’m sure that one day he will join Mom and me together forever…” he said “And we will have a happy life again!”

“Why is your father not living with your mother and you?” I asked “Is he busy in another job or something?”

Blood didn’t reply. What is he hiding that’s related to his dad?

After everyone else I looked at the book we’ve been writing for a year before we kinda dropped it, we were suppose to write on it for 11 years. 

It seemed like such a good idea at first but then it gotten so convoluted and complex all of us dropped it.

I can see why now…

I sigh shutting our book. To think writing that is such a good idea…

Mom went inside my room “Kleude dear what are you doing in here by youself?” she asked.

“Just checking the book we were supposed to write when Jet, Blood, Ariel and me were just kids.”

“Why don’t you read it to Sarah?”

I cringed, read that to Sarah?

“I’m sure she’ll love it.”

“…”

“You are getting into such a big boy now” Mom approached me “You are going to be a fine young man.”

“Do you think I will ever be like Dad?”

“I don’t know but even if you don’t it doesn’t matter.”

I gritted my teeth, I’m still rather skinny, would I get bigger by the end of this year or next year o-or…

“I’m sure you’ll grow into a fine man with a nice girl and a happy family…”

“Huh?”

“You are a nice boy, I’m sure you’ll find a nice girl who will love you and you love her and both of you will have a nice family!”

Sure but what girl would accept my look?

Unless I manage to…

She smiled at me, I tried to smile back at her but I really don’t know if I want any girl with me.

1/2/2006

I should have stayed at home…

The teacher announced that we are going to learn about sex. I cringed wrapping my arms around my head, I’m recalling the moment where Mom and Dad were in the living room with Dad driving his penis inside Mom.

The naked woman was enough for me to shut my eyes and burry my face into the desk as she let out loud moans.

The others were laughing at me the whole time as the teacher explained that sex leads to producing babies.

Produce babies… Is that how Mom and Dad had Jet, Sarah and me?

Oh crap Mom wanted to have grandkids from me…

I thought about it, my own penis inside that hole… inside a gash… disgusting…

I hope I can get over this when I get older so Mom will be happy. But I don’t even know of any girl I like, well there’s Ariel but she’s more like a little sister to me. I would never dream of seeing her without a shirt.

Why am I thinking about such stuff?

I should wait til I’m older and we’ll see how it goes yeah!

The girls sniggered.

“Pretty kitty is scared like a little wet chicken” said Leslie.

“Yeah” said Taro.

“Gees I wonder why…”

“He must have a really tiny junk and this one is too imposing for him!”

“Or maybe it’s the pussy and he never saw one.”

I didn’t reply as they rammed on my desk “What a chicken to be frightened of that” said Moton “Just like the little fraidy cat he is.”

“Oooh he must be gay” said Eku.

“Maybe that’s why he’s so afraid of seeing what a woman have…”

“What a shame…” Red mumbled “He’s missing out the most beautiful thing about a woman.”

Urg they don’t know that I did saw sex before but I’m telling they would make fun of me even more…

“Dumb blonde here must like men then” said Eku “What a faggot!”

“Gay gay rainbow boy!” Leslie sang.

“I am not gay!” I yelled.

“Sure you are, you are simpering on the desk right now” said Moton.

I kept quiet and collapsed on the desk. There’s no stopping them when they start…

After school I rushed back home, Jet, Ariel, Blood and me are planning to go visit the lakeside for a picnic.

Jet and I arrived pretty early so we have to wait for them to arrive.

I shrieked when I saw some shadows, those are way too big to be Ariel and Blood.

Oh no not Eku and Red.

Eku is smirking, tugging at a dark strap and Red is looking particularly menacing with a sleeveless shirt revealing his well trained arms.

I wish I had arms this toned…

“Ooo fag cat is looking at your arms Red, he must be having perverted thoughts with you.”

“What a screwed up person he is” said Red.

“Yeah so into men sick freak.”

“What are you talking about?” said Jet “My brother is not gay!”

“Oh look his brother is in denial” said Eku “He must be gay too!”

“What are you on about?”

She sniggered approaching us closer and closer. What are they going to do?

All of a sudden Eku pushed me, I splashed into the water. What is she doing!? Everyone knows how I can’t swim!

“Kleude!” Jet screamed “Ow let go of me you big bully!”

I panicked as Eku pushed me into the water so I can’t get out I held my breath hoping I got enough air before Blood and Ariel arrive.

But soon I couldn’t feel anything and…

I blinked opening my eyes, am I dead?

I looked around I’m not in the water anymore that’s for sure… But where am I? There’s a pillow I’m resting on, a white blanket, white bedspread, white walls…

I suddenly coughed. I feel weak…

“You’re alive!” my ears perked up, Mom!

“Don’t try to put too much pressure on the patience, his body is weak right now” said a voice.

Wait am I in a hospital?

I tried to get up but my body is aching so I have to lie down again.

The door opened, Mom, Dad, Sarah, Jet, Ariel and Blood walked into the room.

“Oh Kleude dear when Ariel and Blood told us about what happened about you we were so worried!” said Mom.

“What happened I asked?”

“When we arrived we saw that Red was hurting Jet so we knew that something is not right” said Blood

“And we found out they were trying to drown you so we stopped them and tried to get revive you and get the hospital” said Ariel.

I sigh, the stuff they do for me… I looked at Jet, he has bruises on his face and hands and from what I can see his body as well.

Sarah and Jet looked pretty worried as well… However Dad seems to be angry.

“Kleude we need to talk” he said.

“Lloyd he’s weak, let him rest” said Mom.

“That boy is always giving us trouble you know it Elm! This is for his own good, leave I don’t need Sarah to know what’s going on.”

Mom sigh taking everyone out of the room.

He crossed his shoulders “You should have learnt to swim like the rest of us.”

“But the couching isn’t very good…”

“That’s no excuse for your hatred of cold water, you should have learnt to get over it when you were a little boy!”

I found myself trembling and unable to say a word, Dad is always so scary when he’s angry…

“You should grow up already, you’re a big boy, you can’t just stay in the shadow forever. I learnt that when I was much younger than you that you should accept other people ideals.”

“D-Dad… how many bullies were there in your school life?”

“One in Elementary and two in high school. I still remembered how they tried to convince the others to do things for them or they will blab to our parents about whatever secret they found out about us.”

“...”

“I still remember the time they told me to go to one of my friend’s locker and get his stuff for them or they would tell Mom I got a bad grade in maths, I got caught and the Principal found out what they asked me to do and all of us got suspended for a week and they told on Mom.”

“But Dad…”

“No butts, you are just being a baby about this. Five isn’t that bad you know, we could just leave you on the street and let all these weird people all over you.”

I don’t know what to say this time… Dad will never listen to Jet or me about anything…

He frowned, leaving the room.

I clutched the bedsheets, am I really just weak? But it’s so hard to deal with what they say…

I trembled and cried on the bedsheets, why am I so weak? Is Dad really right in what he said? But what do I do to bear all of this?

I coughed loudly, clutching my chest, I feel so weak from what happened earlier…

“What did you just do, dear?” Mom said “He’s broken into tears now!”

“Well he needs to learn to be tougher.”

“But he almost died!” Ariel yelled “You shouldn’t say stuff like this!”

“Shut up little girl, he needs to grow up and trying to white wash it will not do any good!”

“But he’s crying now, you are just going to make him even more hurt!” Blood yelled.

“He will see what I mean someday.”

“That doesn’t make any sense! My mom said you must never be hard on anyone, it just makes them feel even worse about what is happening to them!”

“Your mother is wrong then.”

Even though I’m lying on the bed I can see a frown on Ariel’s face.

“We should leave” said Mom “We shouldn’t stir up Kleude’s mind now.”

Everyone quietly walked away, I sigh in relief, peace and quiet…

I closed my eyes sinking my head into the pillow.

4/2/2006

For three days I’m stuck in the hospital with Mom, Jet, Sarah, Blood and his mom and Ariel and her Dad visiting me during visiting hour, they were all so kind to me trying to comfort me…

After I got discharged the doctor warned Mom that I should stay at home for another ten days before to recover both physically and mentally before I can go back to school.

My birthday is a day before that, I cheered I will get to stay at home!

12/2/2006

Mom decided to bake cookies but I got no much interest in helping since I’m not good in handling cooking job and played with Sarah, moving a rocket about letting her cheer with her Licca-chan doll.

However soon Sarah fell asleep, I shook her lightly but she didn’t budge.

Jet’s still in school so I guess I will watch Mom.

I went to the kitchen, Mom is mixing the batter.

“Ah hello dear” said Mom.

“Hi Mom.”

I watched her stir the content.

“Tomorrow you’ll officially be thirteen! You’ll really be a teenager.”

I nodded.

“Hey want to bake cookies with me?”

“M-me bake!?”

“Why not? You’re free at home, why not pick up baking?”

“But I’m always making a disaster during cooking!”

“I’ll teach you how to bake so you can’t go wrong.”

I gulped, I hope she’s right…

She instructed me what to do but I’m confused on all these procedures.

The end result is that my cookies were rather hard.

Mom sigh in defeat “You are so not a cook no matter what…” she said.

I feel a bit disappointed to produce a disaster, I headed outside to play with the toys we have.

It’s not much fun to play alone and it’s been years any of us played with most of these dolls... I picked up Daisy. Oh Daisy you’ll always be my favourite…

I cuddled her and took Donkey Kong and Mario from the chest to play by myself.

I smiled at Sarah still asleep snoring gently, rolling on the cushion.

“I am Donkey Kong” I said trying to not wake up Sarah “Fear me Mario.”

I grabbed Daisy, shaking her “Oh no Mario help me from this evil gorilla.”

“I am not gorilla I am an ape!” I stopped realizing how loud I was, looking at Sarah. She’s still asleep, now with her face on the cushion.

I sigh in relief and continued, putting Daisy somewhere a few inches away from Mario with Donkey Kong guarding her.

Mario is one hand and Donkey Kong is in another as I made up a fight between them.

Mario bested Donkey Kong and jumped Daisy “Oh Daisy!”

There’s a knock on the door, I put down the dolls and got the door.

Jet gave me a hug “How’s big brother?” he asked.

“Wonderful!”

“It’s great to be at home and-“ he stopped, I peered at his face.

I noticed his eyes are dull and his face is pale… he looks like he’s going to cry.

Oh Jet have some cookies!” Mom called, she stopped when she saw him “What’s wrong?”

Jet didn’t reply walking to our bedroom, what’s going on?

He did come out of the bedroom for dinner but he didn’t say a word.

Tonight I couldn’t sleep, I decided to get a glass of warm water, that will help.

I could hear sniffing nearby, I looked at Jet’s bed, he’s clutching his blanket sniffing. What happened to him?

I’m too tired to think about it so I just got some water and headed back to bed.


	12. Chapter 12

13/2/2006

My 13th birthday! Mom used to ask what I want when I reach that age. All I ever wanted is to spend a whole day with just my family by the meadow with flowers without anybody except our friends.

Today Dad is back home but he’s fighting with Mom that I should go to school right now. I stiffen, I’m going to school now?

“But dear the doctor said we shouldn’t let him back until tomorrow” said Mom.

“He looks perfectly fine, he should be ready.”

“But I’m sure he’s still frightened and he will be too overcome with fear to study.”

Dad sigh “You spoil him Elm…”

“We shouldn’t push him so hard you know Lloyd.”

“Fine it’s his birthday, he can stay at home for one more day but tomorrow he must go to school!”

“Yes dear…”

I cheered, so I get to stay during my birthday!

“Look how happy he is dear” said Mom.

Dad sigh at me, ruffling my hair.

Jet still seem upset for some reasons I don’t know but he smiled at me before heading off for school.

Mom felt weak so she decided to spend the day in bed so I have to play with Sarah.

I got out a few toys for her, she didn’t pick up any of them though.

“What’s wrong Sarah?” I asked.

“Fairy tale!”

Fairy tales? I looked through our bookshelves, Cinderella… Sleeping Beauty… Little Red Riding Hood… I took all three of them off the shelves.

I opened Cinderella. A poor girl who gets a night to dance with a prince, fall for him and managed to end up with him after losing a slipper that didn’t vanish. I wish someone could sweep me away from all those bullies and take me to a nice happy life…

Sarah is laughing cheering for Cinderella “Cinderelly is so happy!” she said.

I opened Sleeping Beauty, at the point about the true kiss I wonder to myself, what’s so special about a kiss on the lips? I never had anyone kiss me there before. Mom did kiss me on my forehead a few times but why do people treasure a kiss on the lips for?

After reading Little Red Riding hood she began singing songs walking around the playroom, it’s pretty cute to see her prancing around the playroom.

I grinned when she stopped, fiddling with the ribbons on her hair “Oh Sarah…”

“Big brother looks so happy!” she said.

She tugged at my hair, yanking. It hurts a little but she’s enjoying it.

I decided to tell her the story Jet, Blood, Ariel and I tried to write a few years ago like Mom suggested.

“Okay Sarah want to read a story your big brothers and their friends written?”

Sarah nodded.

I sat down on the floor, opening the book.

It all started with the heroine running away after the villain attempted to kidnap her meeting the hero, along the way they met two boys who are brothers and they try to stop to villain who is overpowered…

Sarah isn’t looking at me, looking around randomly. I’m guessing she’s bored, I sigh closing the book.

Jet returned home shortly after “Happy birthday big brother!” he gave me a hug.

I smiled, hugging him back.

However Mom still doesn’t feel too good so she decided to stay at home but she told us that we shouldn’t take Sarah to the lake since it’s too dangerous. She allowed us to take some cookies along.

We decided to go to Blood’s house instead, but first we should tell Ariel.

Jet rang the bell by the entrance of her house.

A butler appeared “Yes?”

“Can you call your mistress Ariel over?” said Jet.

The butler walked off, a few minutes later Ariel is rushing to the entrance.

“Hi boys” said Ariel.

“Hey Ariel, Mom won’t let us go to the lake tonight so we are going to Blood’s house” said Jet.

“Oh okay” she asked the butler to open the gates for her since she’s going to visit a friend.

We arrived at Blood’s house and knocked at the door, his Mom took us in.

Blood is wearing a big grin, jumping into my arms “Happy thirteenth birthday!” he yelled.

“T-thank you Blood…” I gasped, his arms are a bit suffocating…

“Where’s your mother?”

“She’s feeling a bit sickish today so she can’t go out.”

“Oh…”

“She told us not to go to the lake so we are going to your house for the day instead.”

“Then I’ll give you a great birthday then!”

“Bloody…”

“Don’t worry, no one is going to hurt you today, all of us will make sure you have a great thirteenth birthday.”

He gave me a reassuring smile, Blood… you’re always so nice to me…

I took out the bag of cookies, giving a few cookies to Blood.

“Hey butter cookies!”

I grinned, handing cookies to Ariel and Jet.

There’s only one cookie left by then, I took the last one for myself.

Pretty good I will admit.

After we ate the cookies, Blood took us to his bedroom and said I can pick any game I want.

I looked through his collections, there are a couple of PS2 games, a few for the PS1 and a few Gamecube games.

Is that Daisy on one of those Gamecube games?

I took out the game, plugging in the Gamecube and inserting the game.

“Mario Party 4…” said Ariel.

After the opening played we started the game.

I don’t know what to pick so Blood suggested Party Mode so all of us can play.

“You can be 1P so you can pick whoever you want” Blood told me.

“Thank you…” I looked at the screen, there are eight people to pick, obviously I want to pick Daisy.

“Good choice” she said.

Blood picked Donkey Kong, Ariel picked Peach, Jet picked Luigi.

I went for the tropical island since it’s the nicest looking board and 25 turns.

According to Toad we have to roll the dice and the higher numbers go first.

“Whoa Kleude you got a one!” Blood yelled.

I gritted my teeth, I have to go last…

Blood got a 7, Ariel a 4 and Jet a 3.

After Toad announced everyone’s order he gave all of us ten coins each.

On our first turn all of us except for me landed on a blue space, I landed on a green one with a choice of two boxes.

“I hear that the little one often contain the better item” said Blood.

I guess I’ll take the little box…

“What is this tiny baby mushroom?” I said.

“Well you can only roll a 1-5 but you can visit some areas or access certain item minigames” said Blood.

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

My green space flashed blue and red, stopping at blue.

“All of us are against each other!” Blood yelled.

The roulette stopped at Photo Finish.

“Oh no not Photo Finish!”

“Assembling a puzzle huh?” said Jet.

We started the game after reading the rule.

Blood seems to be muddled up while we fix up the picture.

Before I could put the final piece, the announcer announced the minigame has ended.

Jet’s the first winner!

Five rounds later we got our first non four player minigame, Ariel and me against Blood and my brother.

“Who shall win the princesses or the men?” Jet asked.

“We shall see” said Ariel.

Minigame is… Cliffhangers!

It’s pretty difficult to tell when to stop since the moment the alert sign appears we have to make our team stop at once which is a little too quick for all of us.

However after much struggling Ariel and me won.

Next turn Jet landed on a red while Blood and Ariel landed on blue and I landed on those damn spots to get pay for the Koopa Kabana rendering poor Daisy bankrupt which ended up with the Koopa Kabana washed away.

My spot turned blue so my brother has to face all of us.

The minigame is Hide and Go BOOM!

Blood, Ariel and me have to pick a cannon to go to.

“Guys, all of us should pick a different cannon okay?” said Blood

Ariel and I nodded.

As the timer went closer to 0 we cannot see our choices since zooms to the bottom of the screen.

“What buttons did we press again?” Blood asked.

Now Jet has to blast all of us within three moves.

On the first turn he managed to blast both Daisy and Donkey Kong off.

“Donkey Kong what are you doing in the same cannon as me!” I yelled.

“Why are you angry Daisy?” Blood asked.

“I’m Mario’s friggin girlfriend, not yours!”

We prayed that Jet doesn’t find Luigi, however in the last two turns both cannons Jet picked are empty.

And Luigi began to cheer.

Two more turns, Blood landed on a space that got DK blown up and a battle game is announced for 30 coins!

That meant Blood is completely bankrupt since he has only 25.

There are two minigames to pick one named Trace Race and another Bowser’s Bigger Blast.

“I hate Trace Race” said Blood, selecting Bowser’s Bigger Blast.

“A complete gamble type of game?” I said.

“Well I was the one picking the game and I rather have a luck based one than something I’m bad at.”

I shrugged.

Blood was the very first person who got blasted off though.

Ariel is next so that leaves my brother and me.

In the end I won.

One money went to Blood however so only Ariel didn’t benefit at all.

“Princess Peachy your voice is annoying” I said.

“She sounds like a mouse” said Ariel.

After many turns and god lord knows how many events and gimped out lucks for all of us the last five turn is announced.

Peach is first, Daisy is second, Donkey Kong is third and Luigi is last.

The Boo revealed our lottery tickets, Jet has two Peach and one Daisy, Ariel has three Luigi, Blood has one Daisy, one Donkey Kong and one Luigi and I have two Donkey Kong and one Peach.

The Boo revealed Luigi and continued revealing Luigi again. However the last face is Donkey Kong…

So nobody won anything.

And what we get for the last five turn is every red space turned into a Bowser Space. Oh nuts we are gonna face that creep a lot…

And on the last five turn we faced him twice, once by Ariel, once by Jet.

In the end of the game is bonus stars.

Ariel won the minigame star, Jet the coin and I won the happening.

And the victor is announced. Blood stopped pretty quickly so it’s obvious he’s last.

Jet also stopped, I stopped… Ariel won!

Peach announced she’s the star and we get to see our results.

“3 stars and 20 coins” said Ariel.

“2 stars and 15 coins for Daisy” I said.

“1 star and 88 coins” Jet said.

“And… 1 star and 5 coins for Blood…” I mumbled.

“You guys are good…” said Blood shaking his head.

We shut off the game, that should be enough for the day.

“And many happy of the returned again” said Blood clapping his hands.

“Thanks Blood” I said.

“Oh yeah your presents!” he walked out of the room, I shifted eyes to my brother and Ariel.

“Here’s your present” said Ariel handing me a small package.

It felt rather light… I unwrapped the present, it’s a dark metal headband with a green stone in the middle. I peered at the stone, is it a real gem?

I touched the stone in the middle its smooth and cold…

“I thought you would like a headband” said Ariel.

“Thanks…” I mumbled, feeling the stone

I already knew Jet held his gift at home so I have to go home to get his, I put the headband around my head, it’s pretty warm from my hands holding it for a minute.

I looked at myself on the mirror. That thing is not helping me in the manly department at all, but I like the gem on the middle.

Blood returned with a little thick package wrapped in newspaper.

“You will love this” he said.

My fingers lingered, undoing the tape, it’s heavier than what Ariel gave me…

I stopped when I saw the present through the newspaper.

It’s the book I always wanted…

My bottom lip trembled, I tried saving it for years and failing and now I have it…

I put my arms around Blood “Oh thank you for such a wonderful gift Blood!” I yelled.

He sigh “No problem Kleude…”

I trembled collapsing on his spikey hair, if only every other birthday is like that…


	13. Chapter 13

14/2/2006

I hate Valentines Day and today I have to go back to school as well!

“The sky looks dark…” said Mom “You should bring and umbrella.”

I sigh, I don’t care about the weather I’d rather stay at home but I know Mom won’t let me.

“Cheer up maybe you’ll be lucky and find a nice girlfriend” Mom pulled lightly at my ears.

I groaned, girlfriend again?

“But Mom” I said “All the girls hates me.”

“Maybe you’ll be lucky and find one who doesn’t, you’re a good boy, you’ll find a girl who likes you for who you are.”

“…”

She packed the remaining cookies from yesterday and handed it to me “Here, maybe she’ll be happy if you gave her cookies.”

“Oh Mom…”

“Have a nice day at school dear.”

As if.

I smiled for Mom however, walking with Jet to school.

Jet said goodbye as he headed to his class, I waved to him, heading for mine.

I looked at the cookies through the clear plastic bag, there are ten cookies inside…

I looked at the girls, I have no interest in getting a girl at all.

I think I’ll take one cookie for lunch and give the rest for Jet, Blood and Ariel.

“Happy Valentine’s day Moton!” some girls shrieked.

I turned to look at Moton’s side, there are about five girls holding boxes in front of him.

“Have my chocolates!” said a girl with choppy green hair.

“No have mine!” said a fox girl.

“My chocolates are better than the others!” a girl with red hair yelled.

“P-please accepy my chocolates…” said a fat girl.

The other girls glared at her “Get lost fatty!”

“M-Moton…”

“You want his attention don’t you?” said a girl with very long shiny fuschia hair.

“Yeah is that why you have such shiny golden brown hair?” said the girl with red hair.

“I-I’m sorry!” said the fat girl “it’s wrong of me to ask!”

The other girls smirked looking at Moton who is still too busy reading a text book.

He finally slammed the text book and said “Fuck off, I hate chocolates.”

The girls screamed, running off to their seats, gossiping how handsome and cold hearted Moton is and who is going to open him up.

I broke away, getting out my exercise book when he suddenly said “Gees eating in the middle of a school? What a depraved faggot you are.”

“I wasn’t going to eat those cookies” I said grabbing the bag.

“Oh yes you were.”

“Fag cat has cookies!” Leslie yelled, bouncing up and down, she is holding a bottle of detergent…

“I told you I’m not gay!”

“You are such a terrible person, lying and trying to eat in school” said Morton.

“Yeah bad kitty!” said Leslie.

“It comes with being blonde.”

“And I’m gonna bleach it white!”

I got out of my sit, grabbing the cookies, backing off. Leslie is going to bleach my hair!

I stopped when I realize someone behind me blocking my way… I turned my head, E-Eku…

She smirked grabbing for my bag cookies, I tried to snatch it back from her until she stamped on my foot making me loosen my grip.

She smirked, getting out one of the cookie “Ooo which unfortunate girl gonna give all these pathetic little butter cookies to poison little Faggy kitty?”

“He’s going to give it to an unlucky boy knowing him” said Red.

“Unlucky boy huh…”

“And he’s going to bone every boy in school, what a creepy little guy.”

“Gay gay gay!” Leslie sang.

Morton had a book in front of him but I can tell he’s watching me, Leslie is spinning around singing, Red is holding me so I couldn’t move as Eku smirked at the cookie on her hand, throwing it on the floor.

“What a lonely little cookie…” she said “Why don’t all your companions join you?” she cackled pouring the rest on the floor.

“Eku you are such a…” I said but Red covered my mouth.

“Shut up whore” he said.

I gagged at his tight grip and his hand over my mouth and nose, I can’t breathe…

Eku flicked her black hair, stamping on the cookies!

She laughed like a maniac as she kept stamping them to crumbs, I shut my eyes so I don’t have to see the horror.

When she finally stopped laughing I opened my eyes.

Red pushed me down the floor, stepping on my head “Wimpy wimpy gay cat boy, how would all your little sex partners feel if they knew?”

“I don’t have any sex partners…” I said.

“How you bone them I wonder… do you let all of their big massive salamis into your closed up bubble hole? Or do you stick your dill pickle on their round globes? But I bet your corkscrew is so tiny all of them won’t like it.”

“I-I’m not gay…”

Red scoffed as everyone else laughed at me yelling various gay nicknames.

“What a retard you are ass cat” said Moton, shit did he just raid through my bag?

“Ooo he only got 19 out of 25 questions right” said Taro.

“So being gay makes you dumb huh?” said Moton.

I rushed towards him, snatching the book “I’m not a perfect 100% student like you!”

“No because you are everything wrong with a person, you have cat ears, you’re gay and you’re blonde.”

“Yeah he’s an inbred!” said Leslie.

“He must have slept with his Dad and brother” said Red.

“Oh my gosh that is so scandalous!”

I trembled, I can’t get out since somehow the teachers can tell every time I try to leave before, the current teacher is yakking about nonsense seemingly unaware of what’s going on.

Taro pushed me, sending me hitting the desk.

Moton grabbed my book again when I got restrained by Taro.

He took a penknife out of his pocket “Tsk tsk you are so pathetic you girly little faggot…”

I just stared as he shredded every pages with the pen knife into ribbons and ended with ripping the cover with his bare hands into two.

“Oh and you wasted your homework tis a shame” he said, tossing the book down the ground.

“I-I’ll get into trouble!” I said.

Moton smirked, adjusting his glassed resuming reading his text book.

“What’s going on in here?” said the teacher, he saw my book “Crude Fluning what in blazes did you do to your fucking text book?”

“S-sir Moton damaged it” I said.

“I don’t believe you, Moton is a moral student, he would never rip anyone’s book!”

“Yeah, gay kitty is being mean” said Leslie.

The teacher glared at me “Clyde Fatning how dare you rip up your own fucking text book! I will tell your parents what you did!”

I didn’t move my body off the desk, Dad will kill me if he knew!

After Literature is over Taro and Red were harassing me on the hallway.

“Gees what will your parents say?” said Taro “You are such a bad boy.”

“What are you gonna do? Run to you little whore friends and ask for comfort sex?” said Red.

“I hate all of you…” I said.

Taro laughed, slapping Red on his back “Hahaha he hates us, of course he’s a sin of the devil while we are just normal guys.”

I stopped shaking, slapping both down the ground, running off to the entrance, that’s it I have enough of all of this!

I ran into the meadow, a place I love and the others don’t care for, it felt much better in here.

I let out a scream of relief “Oh please please take me away from this hell! I just want to be able to sleep without fear anymore!”

I sigh, Blood and Ariel are so lucky! Blood is in a good school with a lot of nice kids who won’t pick on you for having an opinion and Ariel even if she didn’t have any friends at least didn’t have people picking on her either.

I sat on the meadow, doing a bit of sketching. At least they didn’t damage my sketch book…

I drew an angel coming to stop all those horrible bullies. I feel better now to vent all my rage, doing more pictures this time happy pictures of Anne Shirley in the countryside with Princess Daisy.

I wish I was braver like those girls…

I thought about Blood, he’s cheerful and optimistic(mostly) if only I was more like him…

A drop of rain hit my sketchbook, I moved near a tree, opened the umbrella and sat underneath it, trying to do a bit of my school work again.

When the sky is turning orange I decided I should go home, I hope Jet doesn’t tell Mom and Dad I wasn’t in school by the time he goes home…

I loaded my books into my bag and picked up the umbrella heading back home.

On the way I saw a Blood and his all too familiar spiky brown hair and somebody else talking to him holding an umbrella walking with him.

The other person is a tall woman with dark skin and dark green hair in a bun.

Wonder who is she.

Blood stopped talking to her and saw me, he waved his arm “Hey Kleude!”

I waved back “Hi Blood.”

The woman looked at me. I didn’t say anything, she look so foreign with her dark skin…

“Meet my teacher Rose!”

“O-oh hi Mrs Rose…” I said.

“I’m not married” said Rose.

“Oh sorry Miss…”

“He’s my best friend.”

Rose looked at me again, I don’t feel very comfortable at being stared at.

“If only I could help him… his school is horrible Ms Rose, a lot of kids pick on him everyday.”

“Why doesn’t his parent do something about it?”

“They’re poor and his Dad doesn’t want to risk spending too much money and he also said that Kleude should learn to be braver.”

“…”

My ears sank as they stared at me.

“Poor kid…” said Rose.

“Why are you walking with her anyway?” I asked Blood.

“Rose didn’t bring an umbrella and our house is near each other so I decided to borrow my umbrella as we walk home” said Blood.

“I see…”

I walked past them, heading for home.

Jet is also walking back, holding an umbrella.

“Where were you?” he frowned.

“I’ll explain later” I said knocking on the door.

Mom unbolted the door and we headed to the bathroom to take a bath.

After we took a bath Jet finally said “You ran off didn’t you?”

“Yes…” I said hanging my head.

“Why did you run off for?”

“I’m sorry but those bullies were horrible to me and I just want to get away from them…”

Jet’s frown faded “I’m sorry about what they did to you…”

“Please please don’t tell mom and dad, I will still go back once a week so they won’t be alerted but I don’t want them to know!”

He sigh, putting his hands on my shoulders, he’s always so understanding for me. I wish I could be a good brother to him but all I do is cause trouble for him.


	14. Chapter 14

28/2/2006

And so it goes that I go to school only once a week and study in the forest, I don’t want my grades to slip and the teachers aren’t very good anyway.

It was still horrible at school but at least only seeing them once a week is less painful than five times.

I have to wonder, how does Jet feel to have his birthday only once every four years, Mom does celebrate on the 28th if the 29th doesn’t arrive but still.

I decided to skip school again but I will try to make a nice picture for Jet in the meantime.

I tried to walk off when I noticed something off from some talks next door, I peered through the door of Jet’s class.

Some of his classmates are giving nasty looks to him and he tried to ignore it.

“Gees that cat is ignoring us” said a boy with braces.

“Yeah what a stuck up snob” said a dark skinned boy.

Suddenly a boy with striped cat ears and a tail pushed Jet.

I gasped, I must stop them!

“What a chicken he’s already trembling” said the boy with braces.

I slammed the door open “Don’t hurt my brother!” I yelled.

All of the kids turned to me.

“Hey it’s his older brother” said the cat boy.

They frowned backing off away from me.

I approached Jet putting my arms around him, frowning back at them. He’s so scared… I must stop these bullies from doing anything to him.

“Didn’t they say he’s gay?” said the dark boy.

“Eww what’s he going to do to us?” said the boy with braces.

“They are lying!” I yelled.

“Brother?” said Jet.

They sniggered staring at me, I keep telling to myself I like girls as much as every other boy but I don’t see the appeal I keep hearing from Taro.

“Oooh what a suspicious denial” said all three of them “Aren’t you so sad to have such a scandalous brother? You are such a loser!”

Jet buried his face on my shirt, sniffing.

I scowled, smacking all of them on the faces “How dare you say such horrible things to my brother!”

However the teacher finally decided to step in and take me off Jet and to my class.

Most of the kids are sniggering when I was taken back.

“Ooo what is gay kitty trying to do?” said Leslie “What do you think he did Eku?”

“Probably trying to attack the class” said Eku.

“He’ trying to shag all the kids” said Red.

“Oh my how scandalous!” said Leslie.

Everyone gasped looking at me.

I looked at them, hanging my head, there’s no way I’ll get them to stop at all! All I can do is listen to them unable to do anything, if I did I get into trouble by the teacher…

After school Taro and his latest girlfriend are talking, suddenly another one of his girlfriends passed by and he walked up to her talking about going out for a date at the arcades tonight.

She blew a kiss on him and walked away, Jet shifted at both girls.

The current girl looks visibly upset.

I sigh “Gees wonderful isn’t it to see your boyfriend all over another girl?” I said.

She frowned “What do you want?”

“Why don’t you get another boyfriend?”

She shrieked, calling me a creep who wants to do something to her.

“Faggot what are you doing to Elesa?” he yelled.

Jet panicked, pulling me closer to him.

“What? I was just saying-“ I got interrupted when he grabbed me by my shirt, yanking me off my brother, pulling me closer to him.

“Listen you queer don’t you dare touch her, you get it?”

“I wasn’t trying to-“ he punched me.

“You were!” after another punch he threw me off the ground, he hurried to Elesa “Oh I’m so glad you’re safe!”

“Thank you Taro I thought I was gonna be…” she cried on his chest.

“Don’t worry he won’t do anything to you.”

He blew a raspberry at me as Elesa clung to him.

So much for talking…

I rubbed on my bruised face, walking back home.

“Wow you really shouldn’t talk to anyone close to him you know” said Jet.

“That girl surely wants to be his only girlfriend” I said “But knowing him that’s not going to happen” I said.

On the way we ran into Ariel who is also walking home.

“Whoa what happened to you, Kleude?” she asked.

“I got punched for talking to one of Taro’s girlfriend” I said.

“You should bathe your face in ointment” she grabbed my hand.

“A-Ariel?”

“I’ll take you to my house to help you, it’s not too far away.”

“You don’t have to!”

“Your house is pretty far away, I’m sure it will be painful to spend another 20 minutes to walk with a bruise on your face.”

I sigh, following Ariel to her massive house. Jet sigh, following us as well.

She took me to her bathroom to tend to my wounds.

After she rubbed ointment on my face and bandaged the bruises I smiled at her patting her blue head.

“Have you ever thought about getting a girlfriend?” she asked.

I stopped, on the one hand I do since Mom wanted me to get one, on the other hand I really don’t. I shook my head.

“I see…”

“Ariel what kind of boys do you like?”

She raised her head, scratching her hair “Well he should be kind to people, optimistic and brave.”

“The heroic type huh?” I cocked my head.

“Does your brother have an ideal girl that he talked to you?”

I shook my head, I never asked him so I wouldn’t know.

We got out of the bathroom, Jet is on Ariel’s computer playing some game.

“Hey cool I get to make my decision!” he said.

“Are you playing Otome Heaven?” Ariel asked.

“Yeah!”

We watched as he scroll through texts where this guy on the screen with long silver hair and a black leather coat whose name is Orion is talking to someone we can’t see named Colleen.

And somehow the image changed showing Orion pinning the girl.

“Oh my god” I shut my eyes.

“What’s wrong?” Ariel asked.

“Err… nothing important.”

“Then why are you covering your eyes?”

I kept quiet, shifting my hands a bit so my eyes are visible.

Two options to pick from on the screen…

One says try to let go, the other is scream in panic.

Jet picked the first option.

The girl struggled to get away from the creep’s grip but somehow he managed to overpower her and kill her.

“Whoa…” said Jet.

“The game is a bit twisted” said Ariel “Dad once bought it for my birthday but I didn’t dare to sell it away since it’s very violent and crude.”

“Why don’t you tell your father you don’t like it?” I asked.

“He would be really upset, it’s a premium edition.”

We shut off her PC and headed to the hallway.

Her mother just returned home holding a bottle of beer.

“Welcome back home mom” said Ariel.

The woman walked away like Ariel is not around.

“Is your mother always like that?” Jet asked.

“Yeah…” said Ariel, shaking her head.

We didn’t reply just letting her lead us to the exit.

As we were walking home.

At first neither of us talked but Jet looked so gloomy…

“Jet I’m sorry I didn’t realize that you were bullied too…” I said.

He stopped walking “No it’s o-okay Kleude” he said.

“Were you picked on for so long and you didn’t tell?”

“…”

“Jet?”

“Please don’t bring it up again!” he yelled running off.

I cocked my head, I’m his older brother, I want to stop those kids from harassing him but he won’t let me.

I collapsed on the floor, what am I doing wrong? Why can’t I be a good big brother to Jet?


	15. Chapter 15

10/3/2006

I never asked Jet anymore about what happened to school, he went back to trying to be his old carefree self again.

Tonight we are playing Star Ocean 2 on Ariel’s house, the last time we played Blood decided to waste time on helping Ashton ‘Barrel fetish’ Anchors (fitting renamed Barrel) exorcize the dragons that somehow got on his back for no reason, only Ashton didn’t go through it after all.

“What a waste” I said.

“But he really love the dragons after all” said Blood.

“Though it must be painful on his back” said Ariel.

“I wonder how he sleeps” said Jet “It must not be very comfy for the dragons.”

“I’m sure it’s warm for them though” said Blood.

“Let’s just go to Lacour already!” I said.

After arriving at Lacour on some port named Hilton we decided where to go again.

“So where shall we go?” Ariel asked.

“How about getting the message to the King?” said Jet.

“How about getting that book translated first” I said “I mean we are probably going to El if we go to the King now.”

“… You’re on to something brother.”

“But which city is Linga?” said Blood.

“Only one way to find out” I said steering Claude out of Hilton.

I wandered around the world map, for some reason one area has much stronger encounters so we have to run away before the monsters annihilate us.

“Probably not the way to Linga” said Ariel.

I continued steering Claude, there is one huge kingdom planted in the middle of the map.

“Probably Lacour” I said passing by.

There’s a village a bit further off.

Inside the village, Claude, Rena and Ashton are talking to one another when a robot passed.

“Wow it’s so tiny” said Blood.

“I thought Claude’s dad said the planet is underdeveloped” said Ariel.

A little girl with orange hair and a pink jacket passed by.

After the girl talked to Claude and Rena, completely ignoring Ashton.

“She’s so hyper” said Blood.

“Yeah annoying” said Jet.

“She’s awesome!” I yelled.

Everyone looked at me, my smile broke.

“Is she playable?” Blood asked.

“She’s cute isn’t she?” said Ashton.

“Yeah she’s cute” said Blood.

Rena suspected that he has a crush on her and he went all red.

“Do I smell l-o-v-e?” said Blood.

“Ew if that’s the case…” I said.  
“How old is Precis anyway?”

“Lemme take a quick look online” said Ariel heading for the computer, after a quick search “Sixteen…”

We looked at the monitor at the picture of Precis.

“My god she looks like she’s only twelve” said Jet.

“Ooo look at that mechanical arm” said Blood.

“Please let me get Precis” I said “I know all of you hate her but please let me get her, she’s my type of character, plucky and energetic.”

“Of course you are still part of our group” said Blood grinning at me.

Ariel looked up the recruitment, it says to activate Private action in Linga and find Precis in town.

“We should get that book deciphered first though or that Celine hag will throw a fit” said Jet.

We looked around the village, there is one huge university so we decided to explore in there.

It’s quite large and took a while chatting to everyone but no the person we are looking for is not there.

“What a waste of time” I said.

“Maybe he’s in one of the other buildings” said Ariel.

We headed for the house near the university.

There is only a woman at the shop and the person stated back on Mars is a man.

After a few snooping a man drove us out.

“That must be the house” said Ariel.

“Too bad that man who drove us out is a douchebag” Jet sigh.

We exited the city and used Private action to split everyone.

I steered Claude around until I saw Precis near the building near the university.

After some talk about the robot, Precis invited Claude to tea.

“Hehe Precis’ dad thinks Claude is her boyfriend” said Jet.

“And she’s so pissed” I said.

“Oh lookie Rena is also having tea!”

After some conversation I accepted in letting Precis join.

We exited town.

Ashton is surprised that she joined.

“I wonder how Ashton is gonna deal with this” said Ariel “I mean he has a +8 Romance with her.”

“What!?” I yelled “Ew is he an ephebophile?”

“Let’s see how it goes” said Blood.

“It’s gonna turn into some twilightriffic romance…” Ariel mumbled.

“Hey wait since Precis joined…” Jet interrupted.

We high five, we can play as our favourites.

Blood took the first controller since he’s the one who got the game and picked Claude, he gave the second one to me and I changed to Precis, he gave Ariel the third for her to pick Rena and Jet has the last controller with Ashton.

We encountered our first battle very quickly.

“Oh no not those flying stingrays…” Jet groaned.

I realize pretty soon how slow Precis attacks are next to Claude and Ashton and she got hit pretty quickly so Rena has to cast a spell to cure her.

After much struggling and almost drying out Rena’s MP(most of them for Precis) the battle is over.

We decided to head back to Linga and rest before saving and heading off to train everyone to a decent level again.

After thirty battles and fifteen visits to the inn for running Rena’s MP dry everyone is at level 27.

I looked at the clock, 10 PM…

“Okay I think it’s time to call it a day” I said.

“Okay” Blood saved the game, turned the power off and grabbed his memory card and we headed home.

When we arrived back Mom is in the living room pouring tea.

“Hi Mom” we said.

“Oh hi boys.”

I shifted my head, there’s a pale skinny man with frizzy red hair on the table…

“Oh hey are these your kids, Elm?” said the man.

“Yeah” said Mom.

“They are very cute” he got up looking at us.

I wanted to hide behind Jet, who is this guy? How does Mom know him?

“Your ears looks fluffy” said the man.

I squirmed, is he going to touch my ears? I don’t like it when strangers touch my ears.

“Sorry but my sons don’t like people to touch their ears” said Mom.

“Oh…”

“Who are you? How do you know mom?” Jet asked.

“O-oh I’m a friend of your father, I known Elm since he dated her in college.”

“Why are you here sir?”

“Ah I was visiting Asterrica and decided to see your mother since she moved here after marrying your father. I’ll be here for a few days.”

“What’s your name?”

“Matthew Moore.”

“How many friends does Dad have?” I asked.

“About seven, four of them broke up during high school though.”

“Do you know why they broke up with Dad?”

“They said his short temper is too much, but he’s my friend, I don’t want to break up with him.”

I looked down, so Dad did have some friends…

“What’s wrong first son of Lloyd and Elm?”

“Kleude.”

“What’s the matter Kleude.”

I didn’t reply, heading for my bedroom.

Jet followed me to bed as well.

The next day Mom was feeling feverish so she made instant oats for us.

Jet and I ate our oats quietly while Sarah is playing with her food.

Mom giggled playing with Sarah.

After Jet and I finished we decided to help Mom by washing the dishes.

However she was still busy playing with Sarah so we have to walk out quietly.

After we exit the house we split our directions and I headed for the meadow, I have to wonder why Jet bothers to stay.

Ahh the meadow is so relaxing…

I wonder how Ariel and Blood are doing, Ariel’s mother seems like an alcoholic but her father dotes on her, giving her nice things, hanging out with her when he’s at home and Blood has a loving mother and even though I only seen his father only once I assume he cares about Blood a lot as well.

And both appear to be happy in school as well…

Why does Mom and Dad expect so much from me? Is it because I’m their first child?

“Hey is that you?” said a familiar voice…

I squeaked, turning my head, it’s Matthew!

“I-I’m sorry sir, I will g-go back to school a-at once!” I said.

“Skipping school?”

I kept still waiting for his reply.

“What’s wrong? You must really hate school to leave.”

“Y-yeah…” I turned my head.

“Were you picked on like your father as well?”

“Please tell me what you know about my Dad! He doesn’t like to talk much about what happened when he was younger.”

“O-oh okay…”

We sat near the lake as Matthew began to talk.

“I met your Dad when we were 14, he was still trying to deal with a bully in his class. He was still rather frightened by this boy.”

“Okay so what happened on the way?”

“Near the end of high school Lloyd just snapped, he got very irritable, snapping and hitting us when we say anything wrong and it put off some of our friends.”

I raised my knees, bitting my finger nails “Am I gonna become like him?”

“I have no idea.”

“When did he meet Mom?”

“Near the end of high school, she never got upset at him and always tried to be reassuring even when she accidentally pissed him off. Eventually he stopped being angry at her and they fell in love.”

“During college… Mom is 31 now…”

“Yeah they got married pretty early and she had you shortly after being old enough to go to college but she quit to raise you.”

“Mom…”

“Your parents wanted a girl… They had three miscarriages, one after you were born, two more after your brother was born…”

I looked at the water, so Mom and Dad only wanted girls… Jet and I were just kids they don’t want.

“Is that all?”

“Yeah thank you Mister Matthew.”

“You’re welcome” with that he walked away from the meadow.

I thought about it, am I going to be like Dad and snap? What if I lose my friendship with Ariel and Blood?

I looked at my arms, still skinny, I don’t think I will become big and muscular like Dad… I probably take after Mom, some people compared me to Mom. I think Jet will take after Mom as well...

After school is over I returned home.

I need to talk to Mom alone about the college thing… Jet and Sarah are too young to know about this now.

After dinner Jet decided to visit Ariel, I declined.

After Mom put Sarah to bed I called her.

“Yes dear?” she asked.

“We need to speak alone.”

We headed to the living room sitting on the cushion.

“Did you quit college Mom?” I asked.

“How did you know?” she said.

"Just curious.”

“Yes I did, your dad and I dated for 4 months before he popped the ring for me and we got married. We decided to have a child together, we wanted a girl.”

“Yet you have me…”

“I decided against college since I wanted to raise our kids and it would be too stressful for me if I had to manage both.”

“What kind of college were you going for Mom?”

“Culinary, I wanted to be a chef.”

“I’m sorry Mom…” I turned away from Mom.

“It’s okay, it wasn’t your fault dear.”

“Did you become weak for having all of us?”

“I was always weak… Mom and Dad had me a month before I should be born.”

I sigh “You could have become a chef instead of doing nothing but taking care of all of us…”

“It doesn’t matter now, I have three beautiful children now.”

“…”

“I hope you will have lots of children and a nice wife when you get older.”

I frowned, I don’t want to fall into the same pitfall Mom did…


	16. Chapter 16

18/3/2006

For some reason Ariel’s father gave her a set of CDs.

All of us looked at the label on the CDs.

“Journey to the sky…” said Blood.

“Some little tubby kid and some Robo clone with a tower on its head” I said.

He grinned opening the case and insert the first disc on the DVD.

It started off with a waves on an ocean washing on a night sky, paning to a cliff, then to a forest with a robot.

“Aww Robo looks so sad” said Jet.

“Poor Robo” said Blood.

“Oh it’s the little boy” said Ariel.

The boy is walking around holding a basket of raddishes before dropping on the floor crying about how he got lost.

“Poor boy” said Ariel.

The boy wandered trying to find his way in the dark forest.

He stopped when he saw Robo clone half buried on the ground.

“Ooo what’s he going to do?” said Jet.

The boy looked at the robot “Hey what’s this?” he asked.

He jumped on top of the robot.

“I’m on top of the world!”

Suddenly the robot’s eyes glowed and the boy panicked.

“Master” said the robot looking at the boy.

“Huh?” the boy cocked his head.

The robot picked lifted its hand to the boy, he hopped on the robot’s hand.

“Master you have awaken me after 200 years.”

“Cool! Do you have a name?”

“Aquila no.45.”

“I’m Pooly! Nice to meet you Aquila!” the boy grinned bouncing on Aquila’s hand “Hey Aquila do you think you can get me out of the forest and back to Sergio village?”

The robot nodded walking to the forest.

After a minute of walking Pooly squeaked they are getting out of the forest!

Aquila’s eyes suddenly flashed “Enemies” it said.

“Huh?” Pooly turned his head up, there are flying red creatures surrounding the village, Pooly shrieked asking the robot what to do.

The robot suddenly flew, panicking the boy even more “Aquila put me down!”

“Pooly my boy don’t you remember I taught you to fight in self defense!” his grandfather yelled.

“B-b-but…” Pooly whimpered.

“You will have to stop them or all of us will die!”

Pooly turned to the robot, his grandpa is right he has to stop the creatures or it will kill everyone including him.

He transformed into a snake attacking the demons.

After all the demons were killed everyone cheered for him and the credits roll.

“Voice actors… Lisa Ortiz as Pooly, Maddie Blaustein as Aquila, David Wills as Granger AKA Pooly’s grandpa…” said Jet.

“Additional casts, Mike Pollock, Amy Palant, Jimmy Zoppi, Dan Green, Rachael Lilis” I said.

“So many Sonic X actors” said Blood.

“Sonic X?”

“An anime starring the popular Sonic the Hedgehog” Blood shrugged.

“Oh.”

“Shall we watch more episodes?” Ariel asked.

“I feel a bit hot for some reason, I want to go home” said Blood.

“I think we’ll head home as well” I said.

Ariel nodded taking the CD out and shutting off her DVD.

Back at home after a bath Jet is looking at himself feeling the scar on his face.

I forgot when that scar closed up but it looks barely dry, it would be years before it starts to fade and even then it might not fade completely.

Jet sigh “I look like a map with that scar with my face.”

“Brother…”

“What if it never cures?”

“Brighten up Jet, you know a lot of heroes have scars, think of it as a hero thing.”  
He sigh “Heroes have scars huh… Okay…”

We headed to bed for the day.

19/3/2006

I headed off to the meadow to hide once Jet and I left the house again.

I sigh lying on the grass, working on my studies, I don’t want to fail and be a hobo sleeping in thrash for doing badly in school…

I stopped when I heard footsteps, hiding behind a tree.

Mrs Maverick is holding a picnic basket, behind her is… Blood, what’s he doing here?

He sneezed as she unloaded some tuna sandwiches, riceballs, a bottle of herbal tea and cups of puddings.

I realize why he wanted to go home early last night, he’s feeling sick!

“Isn’t it beautiful today?” said Mrs Maverick.

“Ahh if only Dad is here” he said.

His mother sigh as he went on about Leon.

 

“And when we are back together we will be one happy family!”

“Dear he will visit us when he can but he won’t ever return with us…”

“Just wait mom, if we do our best he will surely come back!”

I have to wonder why is Leon never around? Is he busy working aboard? Did something happen? Why doesn’t Blood ever tell me about it?

“Oh isn’t that Kleude?” said Mrs Maverick.

Darn I realized that I moved from my hiding spot thinking about why Leon isn’t around…

“Are you playing hookey? Don’t you have school?” said Blood.

“Please don’t tell Mom and Dad about this” I said “I don’t want them to know!”

He bit his lips “It’s those horrible classmates of yours isn’t it?”

I hang my head “Yes…”

“Come and sit down and calm yourself down” said Mrs Maverick.

I sat down on an empty spot getting a rice ball.

“It must be really bad for him to run away” said Mrs Maverick looking at me.

“It is bad from what I saw” said Blood.

“What do we do then? It’s not healthy for a growing boy to be belittled.”

“I don’t know, Ariel suggested paying to help but his father refused!”

Mrs Maverick looked at me “Sorry but Dad doesn’t like anyone interfering with our lives…”

“But what are you going to do for the next five years, skip school almost every day?”

“That’s the best I can do…”

“You can’t just loaf in the forest every day! You should do something about your future and tell your father that your brother and you should get out of that school!”

“But what can I do? Dad doesn’t listen to me and will never believe what I say!”

‘…”

“He says it will toughen me up so he will never let us change schools!”

Both Blood and his mother stared at me.

“Hey would you like to talk to me alone?” Blood asked.

I looked at him “Okay…”

We headed to a safe area where Mom is far away.

“Just deal with it for another five years” he said “Everything they say is a big fat lie and you know it.”

“I don’t care, everyone in school thinks something is wrong with me already and I’m sure other people will think so once we leave school!”

“I’m so sorry I wish I can help but we are not even in the same school…”

“Blood I don’t want you to get hurt” I gripped his arm.

He sighed, patting my head “I just want you to be happy…”

I looked at him, now’s my chance “Blood please tell me what happened between Leon and your mom and you, why is he not living with you too?”

“My Dad…” he broke his gaze from me “A few months before we moved Mom and him fought about how he is never around to go exploring, Dad still enjoyed exploring a lot and likes to explore even when he’s not busy but Mom wanted him to settle down…”

“And they broke up?”

He nodded “But maybe if I train myself into a strong person and become an adventurer maybe he’ll settle down and not go on an adventure so much.”

“Do you think it’ll work?”

“I hope so!” he was wearing his cheesiest grin but I think he could be faking it…

I didn’t tell him that though as he pumped his fist talking about building himself up and getting large muscles.

Well that explains why he likes Donkey Kong so much…

I watched him as he walked back to his mother, how does he stay so optimistic? I wish I could be this hopeful but no matter how hard I try I find it so hard to see the good side like how he does…

I admire him so much…

After school is over we were in Blood’s house to continue Star Ocean 2.

Unfortunately most of the time is spent on Lacour having a duel so only Claude is available to use for almost one hour.

Jet goes first defeating the first monster with ease, Ariel had to put more effort but it wasn’t too hard, it took me a while to defeat the third one but Blood lost to Dias who turns out to be invincible.

“Super Said!” Jet yelled.

“Super shiny sadist” I said.

“According to the online guide we have to talk to the old manon the left corner of the city if we reached Dias” said Ariel.

“Okay…” said Blood heading to the old man.

“Let’s see the stats” said Ariel.

“Oh piffle it’s weaker than the Marvel sword” I said.

“But it says we should keep it and get two of a certain minerals to get the Eternal blade.”

“Okay… hope you remember that Blood” I said.

And we head to Linga to check for the professor and that assistant blocked him again so we have to find someone to help and Precis suggested Bowman in a shop.

We headed to the shop near the university to see a man in place of the woman.

He told us to get an herb in a cave.

We headed off to the cave.

“Ooo herb” I said as Blood picked it up.

However Rena said it was too easy.

“Should we listen to her or should we head back?” Jet asked.

“How about we check deeper, we should get the level ups anyway and get more skills” said Blood.

We nodded exploring the caves until we are pretty deep and have to waste blackberries to replenish Rena’s MP since I am horrible as Precis and Rena finally decided that this herb is a rare one.

Just before we exit Rena ran out of MP again and I looked inside the inventory, crap no more blackberries…

The slime killed poor Precis so we have to waste one of those ridiculously expensive resurrection bottles.

After we headed out we headed back to Linga and gave the herb to Bowman who approved and got permission to get the book translated and the party headed for bed.

The next day we headed back to Lacour which now have different music and is totally empty.

We headed to the castle until we headed to a lab with scientists talking, one of them is a cat boy.

“Hey look he’s the same race as Kleude and Jet!” said Blood.

The boy had to be hired to a ruin named Hoffman.

“So we have five allies now, what do we do?” Ariel asked.

“How about we take out player 1 after every 5 battles and replace player 1 with 2 and so one” said Jet.

“That’ll work” said Blood.

Claude is replaced with Leon.

“So who wants to be Leon?” I asked “I don’t.”

“He’s so cute” said Ariel.

“Do you mind if I borrow Ashton, Jet?” Blood asked.

“I don’t mind” said Jet.

And so we trained up Leon a bit before we headed for the port to Hoffman.

However the monsters in that ruin is the same creature that nearly annihilated us on our first visit on the Lacour continent!

However we are much stronger so Ashton and Leon managed to kill them with ease but Precis still needs to be constantly healed because of how slow she is.

“Why do you stick with Precis when you are so bad as her Kleude?” Ariel asked.

“Well she’s slow but she’s a lot of fun to watch” I said “Her voice could afford to be lower and less retarded sounding though… Even ‘Crawd has advanced forward’ Kenni sounds better.”

“Well we are wasting a lot of money and resource for you and Rena you know.”

“Well the specialties we use are earning a lot of money back though” said Blood.

Inside the Hoffman ruins I realize how late the time is so we have to save and head back home.

On the way home however a creepy high pitched cackle sound through Jet and my ears…

Leslie!

OoOoOoO

Since the section in the beginning have made up cast with 4Kids/New York VA on it I thought about putting the rest of the made up Dub VA I imagine the characters as.

They use the New York/4Kids VA since those are also the VA in the Toshinden anime but only alive/still active actors are listed  
Blood/Jet- Michael Sinterniklaas  
Ariel- Erica Schroeder  
Kleude- Jason Grifith  
Elm/Lancelot- Veronica Taylor  
Sarah/Ellis- Lisa Ortiz  
Lloyd- David Wills  
Leon- Marc Diraison  
Ariel’s father- Wayne Grayson  
Ariel’s mother- Caren Manuel  
Sofia- Karen Neill  
Rose/Muriel- Sarah Natochenny  
Bian- Mike Pollock  
Nate/Subaru- Ted Lewis  
Eku- Rachael Lilis  
Moton- Gary Mack  
Taro- Marc Thompson  
Red/Eiji- Sean Schemmel  
Leslie- Amy Palant  
Taro’s main girlfriend- Tara Jayne  
Naru- Kerry Williams  
Kayin- Sam Riegel


	17. Chapter 17

We froze as she grinned at us holding a machete practically dragging it from how heavy it is.

“Let’s play hack and slash today!” she yelled.

“Oh no we need to go home” said Jet.

“Aww let’s at least have fun!”

“W-we don’t need to lose our limbs…” I said pulling Jet away.

“Aww but all of you can regain it right?”

“You are wrong.”

“But men are indestructible! Daddy is still alive and mom told me men will never die!”

“That’s not true” said Jet.

“It’s so true!” Leslie stamped her foot.

“Jet we better scram now if we don’t want to lose an arm or a leg or worse” I pushed Jet away as Leslie whined that her mother did the same to her Dad and he’s perfectly fine and his missing arms will reappear eventually.

31/5/2006

This is one of those days I decided to stay I tried to avoid the others as well head up to the second to do exercise.

Near the top I caught sight of Leslie and tried to dodge out of the way before she pushed me to my death.

“Boring!” she whined.

When I reached the roof the only free space is…next to Elesa.

I stood next to her, Taro is so gonna hit me for being remotely near her…

Sure enough he is glaring at me as I followed the coach’s instruction.

I know he’s going to do something to me after gym…

Sure enough he was outraged and slammed me on the wall.

“You asshole you were gonna hit on Elesa!”

“What are you talking about? That’s the only vacant space I can use” I said.

“Liar! You wanted her don’t you? I won’t let you do anything to her you faggot! You probably want to bone her like you do with every boy!”

“I don’t sleep with anyone Taro!”

He slammed me even harder “I don’t believe you! You are mutated monster fag cat!”

I whimpered as I fell on the floor as he asked another girl out leaving Elesa crying.

I pretended to ignore her and headed back home, she’s just going to snap if I stay any longer…

I headed for the toy shop with Jet, Blood’s birthday is striking in a few days…

I have very little pocket money however, it’s difficult to save up when you get very few Tamu a year.

Action figures are out.

I looked through every toy is too expensive for me…

Jet couldn’t buy anything either so we headed home.

We looked into our house, Sarah likes all our toys and would get upset if we took any of her stuff.

I got out the sketchbooks I got on vacation last year and tore out the page, I hope Blood likes pictures…

“You’re gonna give a drawing to him?” Jet asked.

I nodded, tearing another page for him.

“Hmmm drawing a present” he said, getting a pencil.

Sarah walked to our room when we are still working on it.

She watched us going “Pictah pictah!”

“Picture’ said Jet.

“Pictah!”

Jet sigh and got the ABC book for her to read.

Sarah is confused going ahh and oooh flipping the book about.

We stared at each other, is something wrong with Sarah? She is unable to read the book no matter how much we try to teach her.

After we finished the picture we told her to go to bed and told Mom about Sarah.

“Should we take her to the doctor?” Mom asked.

“I don’t know but she can’t read” I said.

Mom scratched her head, what could possibly be wrong with Sarah?

6/6/2006

We took her to the doctor but he found nothing wrong with her.

We found out today what is the problem when we took her to Blood’s house.

According to Mrs Maverick she might have Dyslexia so she will have a very hard time reading and an even harder time writing so she will struggle in school unless we can get her a laptop with permission in school.

We headed to Blood’s room, what are Mom and Dad going to do since she has Dyslexia?

We popped in Star Ocean 2, we are in El already, the enemies are much stronger and we can’t go back to Cross or Lacour so we have to train here.

At least the one place we can rest is free.

Everyone else sympathised with Leon when he lost his parents so they decided to let him join, he’s insufferable but at this point I let them hire Leon.

This time we renamed him to Tom Cat.

When everyone is at level 50 we purchase everything to the max and headed to the tower.

“Okay this is gonna be epic!” Blood yelled steering Claude into the tower.

The tower is massive I must add with a lot of enemies stronger than even those outside the tower.

And practically no save points so we can’t afford to die.

After one hour there is a spot blocked so we have to go to a dead end where an event starts where Claude’s phone rang and he is sent to the airship where his Dad is.

“Whoa Expel is going to be destructed?” said Ariel.

“Oh no we must stop it!” Jet yelled.

“How’re we gonna do that?”

“By going on top of the tower!” Blood screamed.

When we can finally steer Claude we looked inside his equipment and put Bandit gloves to rob everyone before leaving.

Claude decided to go back to Expel to help them.

“Wow and he’s willing to risk his life” I said “How noble.”

The path that was blocked, we saved first before continuing and collected every treasure before we reach the top.

One of the area we encountered the purple demon who caused the ship to crash and have to kill him since now he is not indestructible.

Suddenly there were seven people covered in shadow in front of the party and they injured Claude so Rena healed him and they suspect she’s a Nedian.

And we have to fight this big dude who turns out to be indestructible and very strong killing Precis so Rena has to use her last MP stock to revive her and we decided to run like crazy like the previous boss that crashed the boat.

And more cutscenes roll and there’s a scene of Expel being blown up.

“Oh no not poor Expel!” Blood yelled.

“What happened to our heroes?” Jet asked.

“Now they want us to save” I said.

We saved and the game asked us to insert the second disc.

I looked at the time, it’s 10 minutes before curfew…

“Sorry but we should stop or Mom will be worried” I said.

“Okay” said Blood shutting off his console.

“Many happy returns of the day!” Jet, Ariel and I said handing him presents.

“Aww thanks” he took our present.

“Kleude and Jet’s ones are awfully flat.”

He opened ours, he smiled at us “Oh pictures of Kingdom Hearts? Thank you so much you two!”

“It took us a while to get those done though…” I said.

He opened Ariel’s present revealing little wind up cars, I think they’re called Choro Q.

“I thought you would like these” said Ariel.

“Thank you very much Ariel” he shook her hands.

She smiled at him, nodding her head.


	18. Chapter 18

30/10/2006

It’s a little strange how Ms meek and quiet Ariel’s birthday is near Halloween.

None of us can really decide what to get for her birthday, her father is rich enough to get her some rather fancy stuff while the rest of us have to save up(Well Blood could buy some books without too long a saving but still).

While still thinking what to get for Ariel, I got tripped from behind and fell on my face.

“Some poor little victim will fall to your sleaziness huh fag cat?” said a slimy voice.

“Eku…” I groaned as she stepped on my head.

She laughed “You will make a very pretty post for soccer fag cat.”

“Yeah!” said her goons.

I tried to struggle but she just dug deeper onto my head, laughing all the way.

“Your ears are so stupid, they are so big and bushy!” she tugged at my ears.

“Ow!” I cried.

“But are they real? They are so weird on a human.”

I gritted my teeth trying to fight back tears as she yanked harder “And look you even got a tail!”

Her goons laughed tugging at my tail

“That’ll make a great skipping rope” said one of the goons.

“So sick to have this long ropey thing on your ass pretty boy” said another goon.

I tried to fight back tears as they tug at my ears and tail harder and harder like they’re trying to pull them off since I can’t let go of their vicious grip.

“What are you doing!?” my ears lifted up, it’s Ariel!

I tried to look up I could see her feet.

“Ooh it’s that little cutie pie friend he has” said Eku.

“She’s so cute!” said the goons.

The goons let go of my tail, approaching Ariel but Eku’s feet is still on my head.

“Want a night out at the stadium?” one of the goons asked.

“No how about a night at the beach?” said another goon “I bet you’ll look great in a bikini!”

“No!” Ariel yelled “All of you were horrible to my friend!”

“You call that fag who slept with every population with a Y chromosome a friend?” said Eku shaking her head, what a loser you are…”

I could hear Ariel gasped, what is she thinking? I wish I can look higher than everyone’s feet but I can’t.

I could see her approaching closer to my direction, I shut my eyes, what’s going to happen?

I can hear the sound of slapping and the pressure on my head gone, I opened my eyes, Eku has backed off with Ariel’s hand lifted up.

“Shut up you monster, Kleude isn’t the type of person who would go around boning people around like a whore!”

“What do you know? I’m his classmate for eight years!”

“I’m his friend, I know he will never do such a thing!”

“Deny however you want, I never lie” she ran off to the soccer field.

I rubbed my sore ears“Ariel don’t listen to her…” I said.

“I will never believe what she said” said Ariel “How can she say such things about you.”

“And errr… happy birthday.”

“Are you coming over to my house tonight?”

“Well knowing my brother yes.”

She looked at me for a moment “I’m sorry that you have to endure this…”

“Don’t worry about me, today’s your birthday you should be happy.”

“…”

“We’ll give you some nice presents…” my voice faltered, I don’t have any money at the moment…

“Okay…” with that she headed back to her home and I headed for mine.

But what can I give to Ariel? I don’t even have a penny and I don’t want to ask Jet for money.

So what do I give to her?

I tear out one page of a sketchpad, I hope she won’t mind a cheap present…  
But what should I draw?

I thought about it, Princess Peach? A bunch of Yoshi? Pikachu? Oh I thought about the first thing we did when we first met, find the Moon stone(or rather Moon cheese for this case) for Pikachu.

I started scribbling the scene.

Jet came down, holding his purse “Hey big brother what do you think Ariel will like?”

I put down my pencil “I really don’t know.”

‘Hmm maybe she would like a new doll… or maybe a book… I can’t afford a game.”

“How about a book? She loves fairy tales.”

“Okay!” he headed to Mom’s room to ask for permission and asked me to follow him.

I sat by a shelf to read Anne of Avalon, boo Anne is not as funny as she was in Green Gables…

Jet was at the cash register with a small book on his hand, I closed the book and put it back on the shelf going to Ariel’s house.

Blood arrived sooner giving her a little box.

“Thank you…” said Ariel, putting the box together with another box.

“Did your parents buy this for you?” Jet asked.

“Dad did” said Ariel.

“What about your mother?”

“She’s in the pub drinking.”

We sigh, Blood approached her putting a hand on her shoulder “Hey Ariel how about we play some Gamecube tonight?”

“Okay what shall we play?” she nodded.

“How about some Mario Kart Double Dash, we can make our own team and race!”

“Okay.”

We sat on her room, Blood popping the Mario Kart Double Dash disc into the Gamecube.

After he selected 4 players on the racing mode he handed the first controller to Ariel so she can pick who she wants.

“She picked Peach and Luigi.”

Jet is 2nd player he picked a team of Luigi and Diddy, I picked Daisy and Toadette, Blood picked DK and Mario.

Ariel selected the Mario Circuit track.

“Okay so how do you drive?” I asked.

“Press the A buttons” Blood asked.

I grumbled holding the red button, after everyone else drove off I’m stuck on the corner.

“You are not supposed to hold A until after we head off” said Blood.

“Darn.”

I tried to keep up with everyone’s pace but I don’t know when to use drift crashing into the walls a lot, Jet was hardly any better in his timing.

When the track is over Blood is first, Ariel is 2nd, Jet is 4th, I’m 7th.

“You are not good at this…” said Ariel.

“Don’t remind me…” I said.

“So want to play anymore?” Blood asked.

“We’ll take a break” said Ariel.

She turned off the Gamecube and looked at our presents.

She opened the larger box.

“I wish I could say thank you to Dad today” said Ariel taking out a little white bracelet.

“You could say it to him next time he’s free” said Blood.

Ariel sigh, opening Blood’s present.

“Peach in a wedding dress” said Ariel.

“Aww who’s Peach gonna marry?” I asked “Mario? Luigi? Bowser the money lecher?”

“Well I thought she looked like a fairy tale Princess” said Blood.

“T-thanks…” said Ariel.

I handed my gift to her “Sorry again” I said.

She looked at the picture “It’s like the time when I first met Jet and you…”

“…”

She sigh “Oh Kleude I don’t care how expensive your gift is, I just want you to be around.”

My eyes widened, she looked at Jet’s gift.

“Rapunzel” she said.

“I thought you would like it Ariel” said Jet.

“Such long blonde hair…”

We stared at her, she still wants to be a pretty blonde princess…

She let us looked at her email account.

“Wow so many email from Sir Lancelot of the round table” I said.  
‘  
“He got a computer and uses it regularly” said Ariel, typing a reply to him.

“Advice for duelings?” said Jet.

“He spars a lot and wants my advice to help him gain confidence.”

“I didn’t think he’s the kind of person to spar” said Blood.

“I once asked him about that, he said that he dad wants him to be strong.”

That sounds awfully familiar to Dad…

She clicked on a recent message from Naru.

Hey Ariel this is actually Subaru, I asked Naru to use her Email to send this message.

“Oh no not Subaru…” I said still remembering that moment.

If Kleude is around can you show him this message? I’m sorry I shouldn’t ask Blood to ride down the slope, I should know better but I didn’t think it would go like this since I rode down that slope a few times and it never happened to me.

“…” I looked at the post.

“Are you going to accept it brother?” Jet asked.

I sat on the computer typing a message “Apologies accepted, I’m sorry at yelling at you like that.”

I sigh sending the mail, would we see each other again?


	19. Chapter 19

27/12/2006

The winter is so cold this year… I wrapped a scarf around my neck and headed for the mall to go shopping for supplies since Mom caught a chill.

I looked at the supplies, Sarah is going to school in two years! She’s going to have a hard time if she has dyslexia, is Dad going to do anything for her? He’s always so gentle to her even when he found out she has dyslexia.

I frowned at all the infuriating giggles, there are some girls in the way chatting about something giggling and smiling all the way.

I ignored them when one of the girls saw me.

“Hey isn’t that the boy who skips school almost everyday?” said one of the girl.

“Oh my god he is soooooo pretty like a girl” said another girl.

“Ew he looks like one of those boys from those magazines who gets screwed by all those hunks.”

Tara walked to where the girls are “Yeah no wonder he scored so many men that little faggot” he said.

My ears sank as he smirked at me “Get out of the way Taro I just want to do some shopping.”

“For what a giant vibrator to compensate? Or anal beads? You are such a loafer you are screwing with men left and right while we good normal people go to school.”

“Eww” said one of the girls.

“What a shameless cat you are!”

The girls stared at me as Taro threw his chest out.

I pushed him out of the way, it’s the only way to get them out of my way.

After I got the supplies I headed back home, I didn’t encounter anyone else on the way.

The living room is completely empty when I returned home, I unloaded everything before heading to Mom’s bedroom.

Jet is holding a tray of instant noodles for Mom who’s in bed.

“How’s she?” I asked.

“She’s weaker…”

Mom looks so pale and helpless on our bed trying to eat the noodles, is she going to get well in this freezing cold?

She slept after drinking the stew and we headed to the living room.

We headed to Blood’s house taking Sarah with us so we don’t disturb Mom.

“Hey guess what I got for a late Christmas?” Blood asked when we arrived.

“Loose socks?” I said.

“A jack in the box that goes ‘UWAAAAH?” said Jet.

“Wrong!” he whipped out a PS2 game “One Piece Pirate Carnival!”

“Based on that manga you have?” Ariel asked.

“Yep, great series!”

He popped the disc into the PS2 and after the opening and setting the game we started board game.

There are the entire Straw Hat crew to pick.

“Boo I’d like the girl on the navy that is always tripping” I said.

We went with our usual controllers, Blood picked Zoro, I picked Nami, Ariel picked Usopp, Jet picked Luffy.

“Man if I can get muscles like Zoro!” said Blood “Rippling muscles, just like Hercules!”

I stuck my tongue out, he always want to get manly and beefy…

Now all of us have to fight each other for the board on the center.

We read the controls for a game named Supersonic ledge.

We pressed Circle and Square as fast as we can, there’s a gauge…

I decided to launch the Karoo when it’s near the reddish spot.

Zoro stumbled.

“Arg I thought I could go further” he said starting over.

Blood’s faster at this but the stumble took him at a disadvantage.

Jet won the first round so he goes first.

He selected a panel.

“Minigame!” he said picking the first choice.

“Ooo a fighting game” said Blood.

We confirmed to start the game.

“You are all going down!” Blood yelled going after Ariel.

“Why are you going for poor Usopp?” Ariel pouted as Usopp got pierced by Zoro.

I aimed for Luffy beating him with my giant laundry pole, while he’s down I headed for Zoro “Bad Zoro beating up Pinocchio!” I said.

“No don’t punish me Nami!” Blood screamed running away from me busting down a crate and tossing a bomb at me slowing me down while he pummels me down.

Luffy got beatened down first, Zoro headed for Usopp finishing him off leaving just Nami and Zoro behind.

Zoro bust down a crate revealing a flag.

“Oh crap…” I hissed running away from him, he managed to use the special skill killing me winning the board.

Blood is next, he picked a panel.

“Arlong!” Jet yelled.

“The racist shark” I said.

“Oh crap, shoot the target” said Jet.

Jet, Ariel and me have to start with shooting targets with four arrows.

Jet got 10, Ariel got 24, I got 30.

Now Blood has to take us all down while getting a good score himself.

He only has three shots however.

“Can you take us all down?” I asked.

He groaned trying to aim.

He got five points and got rid of one of mine and two of Ariel’s.

“Do you really think you can win?” said Arlong.

“Shut up” I said.

Jet got 5, Ariel got 12, I got 29.

Blood got 13, taking down nobody.

“Whoa you’re really bad at this” I said to Blood.

And after Arlong taunted us again we finished up or last set.

Jet got 20, earning a gasp from everyone, Ariel got 18, I got 20.

Blood got a 10 managing to get two of our darts each.

The final verdict is Blood has 28, Jet has 29, Ariel has 42 and I have 61.

“How could I lose to a pewman!?” Arlong screamed crashing into his building causing it to collapse.

I took the Arlong card, and my turn is next! I picked a panel revealed to be an event panel.

I get another turn and earn a bit of money from a Vivi dressed like a belly dancer amd I selected another panel.

 

I got a minigame panel, I selected the second minigame as we played the first one before.

It’s about landing on the ship without missing or crash down the ship for going too fast.

“Whoa we are going down fast!” Blood yelled.

Blood missed the ship, Jet missed later on, I crashed into the ship but Ariel managed to make it.

Ariel is next, she got another captain game with Kreig as the captain.

“This Kreig guy pisses me off about all that power crap” I said.

"And we have to make it to him to get to him” said Blood, pumping his fist.

However Zoro died of lung cancer and Jet and I got shot by Kreig so Usopp won.

After a few more minigames Jango stopped us for a half chance game.

Ariel teamed up with Blood while I have to team up with my brother on Dodgeball.

It’s amusing hit Zoro and Usopp into the hoop and watching Nami and Luffy being tossed into the hoop as well.

“Whoa whoa those two are getting a lot of scores” said Ariel.

“No!” Blood screamed when the timer ran out.

Jet and me have 15 points while they have 4.

I am next and got Captain Kuro.

“Your voice is so high for a guy in a fancy suit I say” I said.

“His voice is terrible” said Jet.

The rule is Jet, Blood or Ariel must hit me three times while I kill all of them or wait til timer runs out.

“You are all going down by the power of the claws with a man with a high nasal cartoon voice” I said.

It’s pretty hard to control Kuro but the others have a hard time to reach him and I’m invincible if I crash into a gate, everyone died from Kuro and I get his panel and stole some panels from my brother and Ariel.

Ariel landed on the last captain, Buggy.

Jet, Blood or me has to stomp on him until all our stars are filled while Ariel kills all of us or wait til timer runs out.

Jet managed to get all three stars, I’m still alive but Blood got killed.

“Pretty amusing to see Buggy without a torso” I said.

After more minigame and events Blood landed on davy back fight, he went for the Kreig panel.

Luffy currently owns it so one of us must memorize all of his moves in five turns.

Jet randomized the buttons and it’s very hard to remember all of them.

I almost made it but messed up on turn 5 so Luffy kept his panel.

After more minigames a navy appeared to take half of someone’s earning.

“Who’s the unlucky victim?” Ariel asked.

I lost half of my earnings woo…

“And one more panel” said Blood.

“Whoa all of the boards except one are covered by my brother and my panels” said Jet.

“And that one panel is Ariel’s” he looked at her.

The last panel is another minigame, he picked Battle of the stilts.

“Urg not this crappy balancing game again” I said.

I struggled to keep my balance and try to knock the others off only to fall off myself while everyone else beat each other.

Blood has over ten points and is about to hit Ariel when Jet knocked him down and won by one point.

“Darn I almost won!” Blood screamed.

Jet managed to take one of my panels from his victory and the game ended.

“Whoa Kleude has fifty five percent of the boards” said Ariel.

“And you have only one” said Jet.

“Oh come on I have none left” said Blood.

“Ooo bonus” I said.

I kept winning bonuses, Jet won the earnings, Ariel won event aaand Blood won the very last bonus, actually getting him ahead of Ariel.

Usopp got last with 25 million berries, Zoro has 40 millions, Luffy got 75 million and Nami won at 100 million.

I cheered as the credit rolled, I turned my head to the others.

Blood and Ariel are holding hands…

Jet and I watched as Ariel cocked her head “What is it Blood?”

“Ariel I’ve been curious about something” he said “I want to try dating it sounds interesting and I like you a lot Ariel.”

“H-huh?”

“Will you be my girlfriend Ariel?”

Ariel went red nodding her head.

Jet whistled as I dragged him and Sarah out of the house, oh my Blood and Ariel are dating!

Back at home Mom and Dad are on the sofa, Dad is yanking at Mom’s nighty and bra…

I gulped, dragging both away to our bedroom and quickly slamming the door.

“What is going on?” Jet asked.

“Something you two shouldn’t see” I said.


	20. Chapter 20

5/1/2007

After school is over I headed back home, Mom is heating soup in a pot.

“Hi Mom” said Jet and me.

“Hello boys” said Mom still stirring the soup.

“Hi Mama!” Sarah screamed.

Mom smiled, patting her head “Hey hey little Sarah.”

We sigh as Mom continued cooking, finishing up our school work on the table.

Suddenly Mom stopped stirring and clutched her chest.

“Mom are you okay?” I asked.

“A-ahh… my heart feels heavy…” she said coughing loudly.

Sarah and I comforted Mom while Jet turned off the pot before it boiled over, “Mama why are you hurting?” Sarah asked.

“Do you need the doctor?” I asked.

“I’m sure it’s nothing…”

I frowned “We should just check anyway.”

She insisted that nothing is wrong as Jet and I tried to help her walk holding her arms on our shoulders to head for the clinic.

“Good day Mrs Fleming and the three kids” said the doctor.

“Doctor Nate can you check on Mom? She says she feels heavy around her heart” I said.

The doctor fiddled with his hat “Heavy heart…”

“Please dears I’ll be fine don’t worry about me so much” said Mom.

The doctor frowned putting her down a seat “From what he said it might not be fine at all, I need to examine you.”

“What is the tall man doin to mama?” Sarah asked.

“He’s just checking to see if she’s well or not” said Jet.

“Mommy is well I’ll tell the doctor that!” said Sarah.

“Sarah he’s not going to do anything bad to Mom.”

After checking her he shook his head “She has a coughing fit and her heart beat is unusual… I’m not sure what it is, I think you should all take her to the hospital.”

“Hospital?” I said, my own heart beat is beating faster at what he said, what could be so serious she needs to go to the hospital?

“What’s a hospital?” Sarah asked.

“It’s a place you go to when you have a very serious sickness” said Jet.

“Does Mom really have an illness that bad doctor?” I asked to reassure myself “It can’t be that bad we need to visit the hospital right?”

“I’m sorry but I’m suspecting something is not right, she has to visit the hospital” said the doctor.

All of three of us tried to help Mom, the doctor decided to help us, driving us to the hospital.

Inside the hospital Mom was taken to various rooms, doctor Nate returned with a very down face.

“I’m afraid there’s bad news, according to the doctors your mother has heart cancer.”

“Heart cancer?” my face turned pale, cancer could kill!

“It’s a rare disease, very rare but it happens.”

“What’s going to happen to Mom?”

“It still seem to be in the beginning stages but she will get weaker and weaker and she needs a lot of therapy.”

“…”

“You should tell your father, he should know his wife’s life is in danger.”

“How long would Mom be able to live until we cure the cancer?” I choked a little at what I said.

“Around four to six years for an average patient.”

“C-can you call Dad? He’s still working and I’m not sure when he will return…”

The doctor nodded, as soon as he’s gone I collapsed on the floor to cry.

“Big brodda Jit what is cancer?” Sarah asked.

“I-it’s something that makes you weak so Mom is gonna be bedridden” said Jet, I can tell he’s going to break down too...

“Is Mommy gonna be okay?”

“As long as Daddy works hard to get Mom a lot of good food, she will be as good as gold!”

Sarah screamed in joy, I tried to stop crying, Mom will be alright if Dad works hard to get her food and therapy to get her healthy again right? 

Right?

Tonight Dad returned home to see Mom and to make chicken noodle soup for her, Mom asked that all of us leave home so we don’t interfere with Dad.

We packed some riceballs, leftover bread and omelette before we leave.

Jet headed for Ariel while I headed for Blood to meet up at the meadow, that place is always so relaxing…

Blood decided to take some food over so we can have a dinner in the picnic.

I felt a bit calmer when we arrived at the meadow, getting out rice balls to eat.

Ariel also got a box of food.

“I decided to cook something I think all of you will like it” she said, unlocking the box.

We took what looks like tofu skin filled with something.

“I tried to make something called Inari-zushi” said Ariel.

We looked at the stuffed tofu skin biting into it, there’s rice inside!

Jet spat out the food “Ew sweet and sour with tofu skin and vinegar rice!” he said.

Ariel sigh handing him an octopus cut sausage, he quickly ravished the sausage.

 

I coughed to alert Ariel and Blood “Guys I got something you” I tried not to cry as I announce the news to them “Mom has heart cancer…”

“H-heart cancer?” said Ariel.

“Y-your mother h-has…” Blood was unable to speak.

I gritted my teeth I can’t break down in front of them, they shouldn’t get too upset about my mother…

I tried to be cheerful reassuring them Dad and the rest of us will try to help Mom get healthy again and talk about other stuff.

It was all normal at first until…

“Hey want to know what Ariel and I did?”

“No” I said.

“Aw don’t be mean” said Jet.

I sigh and put a go ahead sign.

Blood smiled “We went for the arcades with my other buddies, walked around town sightseeing and had tea in a café.”

Ariel frowned “You could be a bit more discreet Blood…”

“Aw but it was a lot of fun!”

“Blood!”

“Okay…”

Before we left Blood asked for some alone time with me, we went to another spot where the others won’t hear.

“Listen it’s about Ariel…” said Blood.

“If it’s your date life I’m not interested” I said.

“I’m kinda interested about this dating stuff the other says is so interesting you know.”

I nodded as his smile fell off.

“And I wonder if Ariel and I could be more than just friends…”

“You mean like marriage and that stuff?”

“Yeah… I wondered if we can be together.”

“Aren’t there other girls from your school?”

“Yeah but Ariel is special and…” he turned to me “You are my special friend too…”

I pressed a finger to his lips “but we are both guys…”

“Yeah… anyway let’s see how Ariel is with this.”

I nodded “Hey Kleude do you have any girls you have eyes on?”

I shook my head “No I don’t.”

“You think you’ll be able to find one someday?”

“I hope so…” yeah I wish I could so I could get children for Mom and make her happy…

We smiled at each other and headed back to the others to go home.

Dad’s exhausted lying of the sofa, we headed for Mom’s bedroom.

“Hello…” she said to us.

“Mamma are you okay?” Sarah asked.

“I’m feeling better now.”

“Yay! Can we go to the park then?”

“I’ll try to be strong enough to take you out.”

Sarah spun around hopping in the room, making Mom smile.

“Mom…” I said.

“Ah you kids are so dear to me…” she said “I want to be around for you three…”

“But what if…”

“Don’t think about it now dear, your father will do everything to make sure I recover.”

I attempted to smile at Mom “When you make it I will have lots of children who will love you like we did!”

“That would be great dear!”

After some talk Mom had to rest, I sigh to myself maybe there will be a nice girl one day that I will marry and have a family and Mom will be so happy if she makes it, even if she doesn’t she will still at least have her promise fulfilled.

What am I talking about? Dad will make sure she will not die!


	21. Chapter 21

12/1/2007

Spooooooorts day…

I’m in the changing room with the other boys, as they were taking off their shirts I stopped undressing looking at their bodies, unable to take my eyes off…

Slim bodies, portly ones(ew), muscular bodies…

Wait what am I thinking about? Bad Kleude bad you should be thinking about boobs.

Actually those giant pillars of back killers that Mom has doesn’t seem so appealing…

But there’s flat chested girls right?

But there’s also those horrible gash, I mentally told myself.

But don’t boys have a dick like me as well?

Actually thinking about it, it seems less gross than a giant gash.

Wait am I gay? What will everyone say? Mom and Dad keeps saying that I must fall for girls and people falling for their own gender are devils.

Still most of their bodies are so nice… No I musn’t think about it…

I stopped, my face flushing when I saw Red without his shirt, his chiselled chest, tight six pack abs, those pecs…

I can’t take my eyes off, it’s so perfect…

No! I need to get my eyes off him! I am looking because it’s the embodiment of what a man wants right? Right?

“Hey why is the cat boy all red?” one of the boys said, I froze, uh oh…

“Oh it’s nothing” I said.

“What are you thinking about slut?” Red approached me.

I trembled, backing off “N-nothing special…”

“He was staring at your body” said one of the boys.

“What!?” Red yelled, pinning me to the wall “Were you thinking about making out with me you creep?”

“N-no!” I said.

“I don’t believe you!”

“I really don’t want to do anything to you Red…”

“Then why are you staring at me you faggot?”

“You just have such a perfect body… I-I wanted a body like that…”

Everyone was staring at Red and me.

Red scowled, slamming my back on the wall “I will take my virginity with a girl when I turn fourteen, rest assure it will be before your bloody birthday faggot.”

I rubbed my sore back, when is his birthday anyway? He certainly doesn’t know my birthday is but I always assume he’s older. He’s taller, more muscular and his voice broke pretty early, he just feels so… mature…

“Wow you are so daring…” said one of the boys.

“Yeah the girl you are gonna get will be so lucky” said another boy.

“Hmm I wonder which girl I will choose…” said Red walking away.

The boys were staring at me before running off.

I sigh changing into my clothes and heading out.

They were still staring funny at me and the girls began to gossip of what just happened.

Tonight Jet, Blood, Ariel and I were spending time in Blood’s house playing Star Ocean Second Story.

We found this red headed woman out of nowhere stalking us.

“Hey why is someone following us for?” Blood asked.

“No idea” I said “It’s a little weird…”

We decided to forget about it and head to North City to get a Psynard.

When we encountered the woman again…

“I swear something’s not right” I said.

“Why is she following us?” said Ariel.

“Well I guess we have to find out later” said Jet.

“If we ever do see her again” I said.

We walked up to the top highest building and watched an event where a Psynard gone insane and all of us have to stop it.

“Crap not a flying boss…” I said.

After running all of Rena’s MP dry we managed to kill the Psynard, when the scientist told us to meet someone name Noel in another area to find a wild Psynard.

The red headed woman appeared again and jumped off the top floor, falling on her face.

“I feel kinda sorry for her now” I said.

“Why does she want to report on us for?” Jet asked.

When we arrive in some random hut some guy with cat ears appear. I hope I can forget about what I thought about earlier with some fun RPG.

“Look another fellpool!” said Jet.

“Oooo” Blood went.

“He could look different like Mister Barrel though” I said.

Sure enough Noel joined us, Blood decided to try him while Jet replaced Ashton with Leon.

When we looked up on stats we are right, still Blood decided to rename him ‘Brock’ after his favourite gym leader from Pokemon.

We took a rest to recharge Rena’s MP then headed out to train Noel.

He’s decent at fighting and has magic both damage dealing and healing.

“Well now Rena doesn’t have to run dry her MP so soon” I said.

“Too bad we can’t eat food during battle…” said Blood.

“Yeah just short cake and crepes should be enough to heal our poor girls.”

After we trained Noel to a decent level we headed to the caves to get the Psynard.

Unfortunately the encounter rate is quite high so we have to rely on a lot of food after battle, good thing we managed to save up 20 of each of everyone’s favourite food…

By the time we saw the red head again when trying to get a chest, we found out her name is Chisato.

“Another random Japanese name out of nowhere” said Blood.

“Better than having a name backwards for ‘Said’” I said.

“We should return it to her” said Ariel.

We continued our journey again.

“Ooo save point” said Blood.

“Knowing what happens in many cases we see these…” I said.

“And we ran out of shortcakes and crepes to heal the girls” said Ariel.

We grumbled using the berries.

After a few encounters we saw a Psynard attacked by two creatures that looks like what looks like a mix between a woman and a giant bumblebee with legs.

Noel and Ashton went for one of them while Leon and Precis went for another.

Unfortunately while Ashton is a fighting god, Precis and Leon are not so Noel has to waste some turns to heal Precis and after the first enemy is killed he ran out of MP and we ran out of berries, Precis soon got killed while everyone else aimed for the last enemy but Blood managed to access items and use one of the expensive resurrection bottles for Precis so everyone gained experience.

“Thank you” I said patting Blood on his spikey head.

Blood smiled giving me a thumbs up.

It turns out the Psynard has babies and nobody wants to let her leave them but she decided to take them with her and we hopped in as well.

“No I want Noel!” said Blood.

There was a choice, Blood accepted at once and Noel joined for good.

But time is up for us and we saved our progress.

Ariel smiled at Blood, holding his hands after he shut off his PS2 whispering something to him.

Jet is staring funny as Ariel approached Blood’s face…

However Blood backed off “Sorry Ariel but I-I…”

Ariel sigh, shaking her head “It’s okay…”

Jet sigh in relieve as we headed back home but suddenly memories of earlier is flooding into my head again, should I get a girlfriend like Blood? He looks so happy being around Ariel…

But how do I get a girl? I never seem to be able to attract any girl in my life.

Then again do I want to get a girlfriend? It’s not just about sex like what Red claims right? Memories flashed back about that time, urg…

“What’s the matter big brother?” said Jet.

I opened my eyes, looking at him “O-oh nothing Jet!” I said.

“You look kinda pale…”

“It’s nothing really…”

He squinted his eyes at me, I tried not to show my emotions too much, still should I try to ask a girl out on a date and reassure myself I am just like every other boys? Maybe I’m just feeling something because of puberty, Mom once said a lot of teens feel a bit strange at first.

When we returned home and headed for bed I couldn’t sleep at all, it’s still bothering me… Is it normal for boys to think other boys have nice bodies? I daren’t ask in case they suspect I could be gay.

I keep trying to tell myself I am not gay, I am not one of those people who seek penises and want comfort from boys because my Dad is hardly around.

Maybe I need to rest I am worrying myself sick…

And all of us need to be healthy at all times to tend to Mom.


	22. Chapter 22

20/1/2007

I looked at myself on the mirror, why do I have cat ears and a tail instead of ordinary ears and nothing strapped to my bottom? Are my family produced from a cat and a human? Maybe my classmates are onto something…

Jet is trying comb his hair but Sarah wants to play with him, he tried to ask her to play with me instead but she refused to leave, grabbing his ponytail slider.

“Hey let go!” he yelled.

Sarah pulled down the slider so his hair fell to his shoulders.

“Oh Sarah…”

“This is fun!” she yelled running about the room with his ponytail slider.

I sigh returning to the mirror looking at my ears, I wonder what it would be like if my family were fully human… We might not be able to hear as well but I don’t think we have anything else other than better hearing that differentiate us that is not looks.

I mumbled, running my hands down my shoulder length hair, why am I blonde instead of a nice mousy brown like Dad? Yellow is such a horrible colour.

Still I wonder how Mom is…

I got out of the bedroom to see Mom in her room.

Mom is looking through the window on a chair.

“Isn’t it beautiful?” she said “The snow all melted and the stones and plants covered in water…”

She sigh as I put my arms around her “Yeah…” I said.

“Dear you are growing up…” she said “I wonder if I-I…”

“You won’t die Mom, all of us will do what we can to get you well!”

“Dear…”

“Mom is there anywhere you want to go?”

“I would like to go to the mountains b-but…”

“We’ll take you there if we can, please Mom tell us.”

“That’s nice but it will be a burden for all of you…”

I sigh as she laid on my chest, what do I do to make her happy? We can’t go to the mountains yet but I do so want to make her happy…

“Mom do you think you would to watch Jet, our friends and I play video games? I’m sure it will be fun to watch” I said.

Mom looked up at me “Okay…”

I smiled, I will make sure Mom will be happy.

I know she likes light fluffy stuff so we shall play Mario Party 2 tonight.

I told Jet about this after I left the room, he seems pretty eager to please Mom as well.

All of us headed to Blood’s house, Ariel is also around having dinner with Blood.

They seem so happy…

Í dare not interrupt but they stopped and waved to us.

We waited until they are done and headed upstairs.

I asked Blood to get out Mario Party 2 for Mom to watch.

As he looked through his cabinet all of a sudden Sarah bounced up and looked inside as well.

“Whoa whoa I’m just looking for a game” said Blood.

“This one looks fun!” Sarah yelled pulling another game out.

Urg Spongebob…

“Play this play this!” she yelled.

“Errr we wanted to play Mario Party 2…” said Blood.

“This looks so cute!”

Blood sigh taking the game from her and popping it into his PS2.

I sigh “You guys can pick first, I’ll be P4.”

Blood picked Patrick, Ariel picked Squidward, Jet picked Plankton. Now I have a choice of an annoying sponge, an oh so flawless squirrel gal and a money grubbing crab.

I picked the crab since he’s the least annoying character after Plankton.

“Oh no not Bubble Bass!” I said.

All of us gnashed our teeth as that snobbish blowfish started going on insulting everyone.

And we have a two VS two minigame with instructions on the loading screen.

“Go brothers!” Sarah yelled bouncing up and down.

Jet and Ariel teamed up on the bottom half of the screen while Blood and I teamed up on top half.

“Okay let’s go go go!” said Blood flipping a burger to me.

We were all fairly even although Blood sometimes accidentally flipped the burgers emitting green gas but I can avoid those.

Then it got faster and Blood made more mistakes missing the burgers.

In the end Jet and Ariel won but to our surprise we got the same audition points.

“What?” I said.

“Oh yeah you have to earn a certain number of points to get the max audition point” said Blood.

“Doh.”

“Ooo serving food” said Jet.

“Am I teaming up with Blood again?” I said.

However this time Jet is teaming up with me and Blood is teaming up with Blood.

“Okay let’s go serve these loonies lots of tasty seafood Plankton” I said.

“Shut up Mr Krabs” said Jet.

Jet and Blood are taking the order while Ariel and I serve the food.

We are on an even pace at first when…

“What our roles switched!?” Blood yelled.

“Okay Mister Krabs now you serve my delicious chum bucket merchandise’ said Jet.

“Oh come on we are on the Krusty Krabs” I said.

It’s pretty quick to get all of the order and wait for Plankton to get the food but Blood’s timing on getting food is really bad crippling his and Ariel’s score.

In the end Jet and I won and we are ahead.

“Another team game” Jet said.

“Are all of the minigames 2 vs 2?” I said.

Blood looked at the box art “No” he said.

I sigh starting the game.

Jet is teaming up with Blood, Ariel is teaming up with me.

For this one everyone got a pretty even score, however Jet and Blood are a bit better than Ariel and me so they won and Jet gets to be the waiter.

Mermaid man and Barnicle boy are in the Krusty Krab where Mermaid man wants a burger with a whole pile of pepper thicker than the patty.

“Gees that could give him a sneezing fit of death” I said.

Plankton handed over the pepper to Mermaid man and the heroes mentioned about a sneaky hermit and Plankton got surprised and said he thought he saw somebody sneaking into the Chum bucket with something so they got excited.

And we have to audition in the Goo Lagoon with Muscle man Larry as the host.

“At least we don’t have an annoying snob this time” I said.

“Man if I can get a build like that…” said Blood.

“Oh yay first solo game!”

“Oh no not one of those games you need to figure where to go!” Blood screamed.

Ariel sigh “Just try to get a score Blood” she said.

Jet and I managed to get twice the amount Blood and Ariel did and I won with Jet second, Ariel third and Blood last.

“What another two vs two?” I said.

This time Jet is teaming up with Ariel and I am stuck with Blood.

“Okay let’s cooperate Bloody” I said.

“Hey I can be good if I can” said Blood.

I snickered as we started.

Unfortunately before we can finish the fourth barbell, Jet and Ariel won.

“Uh oh… if Jet wins…” said Blood.

“He’s gonna win the Audition again” I said.

“Arg fishing…”

I sigh as everyone one of us are rolling in points while Blood is trying to get objects but failing most of the time.

“Whoa Ariel is good…” I said.

In the end Ariel won, Jet is second, I’m third and Blood is last.

Surprisingly Ariel managed to narrowly get the role.

Squidward is watching out for heroes, getting bored and wanting to do ballet and art instead when he got almost caught and promised he won’t slip again and got almost caught by the Dirty Bubble and Manray.

“Oh gees that’s a short job” I said.

My face fell when I saw the next area is the boating school…

Jet is first, Ariel is second, I’m third while Blood is last.

“Ooo who’s gonna be the Sneaky Hermit…” said Blood.

The first one is some game where everyone is on a unicycle trying to knock everyone down for points.

The controls are horrible and I slipped a lot or got shot and fell off anyway.

Blood won, Ariel is second, Jet is third and…

“Oh my gosh not even a single point!” said Blood.

“Urg…” I groaned.

The next one is performing tricks on the air without crashing for performing when landing.

“Let’s go go go!” Jet yelled.

Blood’s worse getting a pretty average score, Jet won, Ariel is second and I’m third in this.

“Oooh my brother and you are pretty close…” I told Blood.

“What’s the next game?” said Blood.

“Arg racing!” I said.

“Yes!” Blood cheered starting the game.

Blood won, Ariel is second, Jet is third and I’m last.

“Whoa Patrick is getting the role” said Ariel.

“Would he be a good cop?” I said.

Patrick had to be reminded by the cop what to do before his finally rode on his pathetic little bike.

“Gees why the tiny bike?” I said.

“Oh look our heroes are driving in circles!” said Jet.

“And Patrick managed to get them arrested despite having a useless bike slower than a snail that meows…”

“Oh the sand stadium!”

“No I hate rhythm games!” Blood yelled.

Our overall score is Jet is wining, Ariel is second, Blood is third and I’m last.

“Ooo concert…”

After six different pieces I won, Ariel is second, Jet is third and Blood is last.

“This is not looking good for Blood…” I said.

On the next game on memorizing buttons, all of us managed to memorize every button but Blood suddenly messed up on one dance near the end and screwed up his score.

Everyone but Patrick won.

“Oh no not the damn beat game” said Blood.

It was pretty hard for all of us to keep up to the beat… but in the end I won, Jet is second, Ariel is third and Blood last.

I barely got the minimal points to get the role!

“Why are they on the stadium after getting arrested?” I asked.

“Order from what we get now is different from the actual order when all of them are pieced together” said Blood.

“Oh…”

Mermaid man thinks they are on a sports stadium and complained the ‘hot dog’(actually a chair according to Barnicle) is very chewy, stale and hard to lift.

Then the stadium vanished and a random fish went on a melodramatic panic that the heroes turned ‘eviiiiiiiil’ and they have to run away.

Next is the Jelly fish field.

“Oh yay no more rhythm game!” said Blood.

I managed to get above Blood barely…

“Huh getting jelly fish for jelly?” I said.

It was pretty difficult I swore I actually ended up helping the others instead of throwing the jellyfish on my own jelly maker.

In the end Jet won, Blood is second, Ariel is third and I’m last.

“Oh gosh another hard game!” said Blood.

We have to time ourselves to get as many jelly fish in one go as we can.

It was pretty hard and all of us earned very little points with Ariel first, Jet second, I’m third and Blood last.

“Another 2 vs 2” I said.

“So who are we gonna team up with?” said Ariel.

Jet got Ariel, I got Blood…

Ariel and Blood are holding the clarinet, Jet and I are holding the nets.

Ariel is pretty good at blowing on Blood’s spot and running away while he’s down to get more jelly fish or go to his spot when he has more jelly fish and blow after he does to both take him down and get jelly fish for Jet.

In the end team Jet and Ariel won but we have to redo a minigame since nobody hit the minimum score.

We have to redo the second one…

This time Jet won, I’m second, Ariel is third and Blood is fourth.

Jet got the role again.

And we get a cutscene where the heroes, Dirty Bubble and Manray are getting help from Plankton as long as they keep quiet but even after making lots of noise Plankton said that they can just leave now if they want his help.

“Oh finally chum bucket” I said.

“Wonder what’s going on in there” said Ariel.

Jet is first, Ariel is second, Blood is third and I’m last again.

“Repairing machines?” I said.

Ariel got Blood, Jet got me.

“Okay time to fix!” said Blood.

Unfortunately Blood seems to have a hard time cooperating so Ariel and Blood has a lot of meltdown while Jet and me managed to win.

The next game is popping bubbles.

Ariel won with Jet second, me third and Blood last.

The last minigame is charging static.

“Ooo glowing” said Jet.

“Why am I pink?” said Blood.

“You are playing as a pink dude running around in his swimming trunks that’s why” I said.

Blood won, Ariel is second, I’m third, Jet is last.

Surprisingly Blood and Ariel tied!

“Rock paper scissors…” I said.

“Okay we shall see who gets the hostage” said Blood.

Blood won!

In the Chum bucket Patrick is complaining he’s too cute to run and he’s getting muscles.

“Urg do we need that picture of muscly thighs?” I said.

The heroes arrived to stop Dirty Bubble and Manray and somehow the Chum bucket vanished and they decided to team up leaving Patrick behind.

“Prison!” said Jet.

“Oh crap soccer…” I groaned.

Blood is teaming up with Ariel, Jet is teaming up with me.

“Do your best Ariel” said Blood.

“Okay” said Ariel.

Neither Jet nor me were any good so Blood and Ariel got a lot of easy scores and managed to claim the victory.

“Looks like one of those two are gonna win the audition…” I said.

Next minigame is solo, helping prisoners escape.

“No don’t arrest me!” Blood yelled as the security got Patrick.

In the end Jet won, Ariel is second, I’m third, Blood is last.

“Jet is surprisingly good at this game…” I said.

“Another 2 vs 2” said Ariel.

Jet got Ariel, I got Blood.

“Okay you focus on the right, I do the left” I told Blood.

“Okay!”

It seems pretty even until Blood found it hard to keep up so I have to help him and end up clogging the left side anyway while Jet and Ariel managed to get much more points.

Ariel won the role.

Mermaid man and Barnicle boy are talking about what happened earlier and saw the Dirty Bubble and Manray complaining they got arrested for jay walking.

The prison got wiped out and they decided to split their way and the villains want to go jay walking again.

“And downtown!” said Blood.

“Do you think you can beat Jet?” I asked.

“Hmm dunno…”

“Urg 2 vs 2…”

Jet teamed up with Ariel and I got stuck with Blood as we try to scrape barnicles and not make the bucket crash.

Seems like Blood is bad at focusing since we missed a lot of barnicles and crashed the bucket a lot.

Jet and Ariel won!

“Another 2 vs 2?” I said.

“Yay I love climbing!” said Blood.

Unfortunately for him… he’s getting the batteries while I have to climb, Ariel is also climbing with Jet getting the batteries.

Blood found it hard to keep up with the pace getting the wrong batteries and having to put them back.

Once again Jet and Ariel won.

“Are we gonna have a tie breaker if we have the same team again?” I said.

However for the third minigame Ariel is teaming up with Blood and Jet is teaming up with me.

Blood sometimes ended up throwing both Ariel and him very far ahead while Jet and I get a steady point earning and won.

Jet won again.

“Gees I just realized” said Ariel “Blood won twice, Jet won three times, I won twice but Kleude only won once…”

“Don’t be too down that you only won once, we can play Star Ocean again tomorrow!” said Blood.

I sigh, I don’t care…

In the end Jet is the winner and gets to be the Sneaky Hermit.

We watch everything in order including some extra scenes.

“Poor Sneaky…” said Blood.

“I have to wonder why his wife took their house away” said Ariel.

More scenes and Mermaid Man got the Deus Ex pepper to get rid of the Sneaky Hermit and the game ends.

“Finally…” I groaned.

“Big brother you are great!” Sarah cried hugging Jet.

He sigh playing with her mousy pigtails.

“It’s fun” said Mom.

I smiled, at least she had a good time watching us…

When we returned home, Jet and I helped Mom to bed.

We decided to clean her drawer up a bit, there’s a bits of cobwebs…

When Jet is checking inside he let out a soft gasp “Brother look…” he handed the paper to me.

I took the paper reading it, I stopped at what I saw…

My three kids are so good… they always try to cheer me up, Sarah is always so cheerful and the boys are trying their best to manage the house. Still I wonder… they tried to reassure me that I won’t die and they will do anything to make sure I recover from my heart cancer, but I feel so weak… I’m not sure if can actually make it… Kleude would be a big boy then but it would be difficult for him to raise the other two since Lloyd’s so busy with his job as a miner. I want all of them to be happy and have a happy family when they grow up…

I wish I could go on a vacation on the mountains or go to a fancy restaurant but they are all so expensive or takes a long time to go to…

I tremble clutching the paper, Mom…

“What’s wrong big brother?”

I turned to Jet “Nothing too personal” I said putting the paper back into the drawer and shutting it.

I should tell that she wanted to go to a restaurant and a mountain though but how do we get the money for the restaurant and how do we get Mom a safe travel to the mountains? I know Ariel is rich but I dare not ask money from her or her family…


	23. Chapter 23

31/1/2007

Sarah’s four now! Oh my gosh, she’s going to go to school in two years yet she’s still so tiny.

We have to plan for her party, but we don’t have must money to splurge, I hope she likes a cheap party instead of the bustling parties most kids usually have.

We should invite Blood and Ariel to the party, Jet asked me to get them while he gets party supplies.

I headed to Blood’s house first.

Unfortunately his mother told me Blood went off to Ariel’s.

Could he be asking for a date? I thought to myself.

When I was heading to the gate I saw Moton holding a stack of text books.

He frowned when he saw me “Get out of the way cat, I need to study.”

“Gees do you always study all the time?” I said.

“Shut up you fool, why are you my desk mate anyway? You just keep bringing down my work when we have to cooperate.”

My eyes widened trying to get past him but I accidently brushed his shoulders making him drop his books.

He screamed slapping me “Why you! You just ruined my beautiful books!”

I cringed hoping he would walk away but he went on that I was a useless deskmate and I will fail him on our next project and I’m interfering with his grades right now while he’s picking up his books.

“I’m sorry Moton…” I said.

“You are not helping you little dimwit, if you are really sorry you should just stop screwing up so much!”

“But why are you-“

“Oh you infernal little cat… Any mistake is not acceptable!”

He managed to pick up all his books and headed off.

I trembled trying to press the bell on the gate.

A maid arrived and asked me what I want, I told her I want to see Ariel.

She took me to a library where Blood and Ariel are looking through shelves of books.

“Oh hi” said Blood when he saw me.

I waved to him as he looked through the shelves.

“Lord of the Rings!”

“What are you doing in Ariel’s house?”

“Ah!” he turned back to me “We were just hanging out, chilling, getting some interesting books to read.”

I sigh as he got the book to a nearby table to read, Ariel got a book to read as well.

They read their books and chatted with each other, letting me in their conversation from time to time, they look so happy…

Is it really that wonderful to be dating and have someone you are so in love with?

I wonder how it’s like to experience this… But there isn’t any girl I want to hang out with like this in my mind.

Ariel suddenly touched Blood’s cheek, his eyes widened as he looked at her.

She blushed at him as he asked if she wanted to kiss him.

I tried to distract myself getting out of the seat to get a book, how is this going to progress? Are they going to do more in the future? They are only eleven and a half now but…

“Hey” I stopped at a voice behind me, Blood…

“O-oh hello” I said.

“Anything interesting?”

“No” I suddenly remembered why I’m here “Oh Blood, it’s Sarah’s birthday!”

“Sweet!”

“Can you tell Ariel and ask if she wants to come over?”

“Okay!”

I sigh as he headed back to Ariel to tell her the news, should I go home now?

Might as well, they are too busy talking to each other right now.

I headed back home, on the way I saw Eku and Taro playing baseball with the others, I snuck past them hoping they don’t see me.

Back at home Mom is sitting on the living room reading a book.

“Oh welcome home” said Mom.

“Hi Mom” I looked at the book, it’s one of those soppy love books…

Her lovely whispy white hair blew with the wind, the moon light making her hair and skin glowed in the dark as Mark stared at her radiant beauty.

“…”

“It’s okay if you don’t have a girlfriend now, you might be developing slowly. You will find your ideal girl someday.”

I thought about it, an ideal person… I would like brown hair, bright blue or green eyes, healthy skin, someone perky and nice… no breasts or-

I stopped myself, no that’s not right!

Mom smiled at me patting my hair “When you grow up I hope you find a girl who will make you happy. I’m sure you will make her happy too, you are a good boy Kleude.”

I tried to smile back at her but as soon as I headed to my room I thought about what happened earlier, crap why are these horrible thoughts still on my head?

I’m not just thinking about shirtless boys, I’m thinking about a boy on my bed comforting me, holding hands and whispering sweet nothings.

Wait why am I thinking about this? What’s the matter with me? This clearly can’t be normal!

I slapped myself, no don’t succumb to this! Imagine a girl next to you instead!

My mind drew a blank instead…

But urg the idea of getting undressed and having my ‘thing’ being touched no matter what is still grossing me out.

I grumbled getting my sketchpad to scribble on something to take my mind off relationships.

Jet soon returned home with party supplies and asked me to arrange the decorations while he takes Sarah for a walk.

I got out the little pennants to pin on the walls.

When I was pinning the last pennant there was a knock on the door.

I got the door, Ariel and Blood have arrived holding little boxes.

They entered my house putting their gifts near the cushion.

“Just some pennants?” said Blood.

“Jet bought them” I said.

“So what about the food?” Ariel asked.

“I’m supposed to get a cheese cake when I pinned up all the pennants.”

“Hmm…”

“Ariel?”

She headed to the kitchen getting some stuff out “Do you mind if I make a cake for her?”

“Go ahead, Jet isn’t very good at baking and I’m awful.”

Ariel nodded as she began to break an egg into the mixing bowl.

I left the kitchen to hang out with Blood.

He grinned at me giving a high five.

“How’re you feeling?”

“Sarah’s already four… She’s growing up…”

“You’re getting tall too.”

“That’s because you are so short.”

Blood gritted his teeth, shifting his head a little.

I laughed patting his head, it’s so spikey yet I like touching it.

“But I’m so nervous about the moment with Ariel and me…”

“Huh?” I cocked my head.

“I don’t know how to take this… I know she wants to do stuff like holding hands and kissing but I’m so nervous…”

“Mom had told me some people develop late, maybe you should wait a little?”

“Yeah maybe you’re right…”

I held his hand “I hope both of you will be happy together.”

“Of course we will, you don’t have to worry so much.”

I sigh letting go of his warm hand.

Ariel arrived with a plate of plain sponge cake setting it on the table.

“Now we wait for the little girl to return” said Blood.

I sigh getting out of the living room to get my headband, would she like to wear it for the day?

I love that stone in the middle so much… She’s not going to damage it will she?

I brushed some of my hair off my forehead putting the headband on, it still fits, I wonder how she’s going to be able to wear it.

I headed back to the living room waiting for Sarah.

Jet and Sarah returned half an hour later.

“Happy birthday Sarah” he said, taking his hand off her eyes.

She screamed running to the house bouncing about.

“Many happy returns of the day” said Blood.

“Thank you mister Spikey hair” said Sarah.

“Happy birthday” said Ariel.

“Thank you Miss blue hair!”

I sigh taking off my headband “Here you can wear this for tonight.”

Sarah’s eyes shone at the stone as I warned her not to damage my headband.

The headband is too big for her forehead but she decided to wear it like a tiara “I’m a pretty princess!” she said.

“Don’t damage your brother’s headband though, he will be pissed if you do” said Jet.

“Okay!”

She spun around singing to herself before she opened all the presents and ended the party with the sponge cake cut for all of us.

After Blood and Ariel left we headed for bed.

That was a relatively successful birthday…

I have to wonder would all her other birthday be so happy? Would she have to go to the school Jet and I head to? We don’t exactly have money for the other school unless we really want to struggle with food and everything else.

Unless… unless… I fell asleep unable to think anymore.


	24. Chapter 24

12/2/2007

Swimming…

At the very least the coach doesn’t care if I take part so I just sit on a corner watching as everyone stretched themselves.

I ignored the girls in one piece swim suits or tiny bikinis, nothing interesting…

I stopped at all the boys with glistening bodies in their swimming trunks or (bleh)speedos.

“What are you staring at faggot?” said a deep voice.

I tried to burry my face, I wasn’t staring at them I wasn’t staring at them!

“Lamer ass boy what were you thinking?”

“N-nothing Red” I said.

“What’s going on?” said a slimy light voice.

I curled myself looking at Eku climbing out of the pool, she is wearing a rather skimpy bikini for whatever reason.

“Fag cat is staring at us” said Red.

“I wasn’t staring at you people weird” my ears twitched, I am certainly not I hope I’m not.

“Ooohhh so Pretty boy has something fishy in his brains” said Eku.

I hung my head again as Red said he saw me and my face is sweaty when he saw the boys.

“Oooo how scandalous!”

I felt a sharp pain on my ears as Red pulled me up so my face is exposed and he slapped me “You little faggot get out of our lives and stop being such a faggot!”

I held back tears as he let go of me and went back to swimming with the others, staring funny at Eku and the other girls.

Eku laughed at me jumping back into the water.

Crap am I thinking something weird about the boys? Could Red be right?

Thinking about it, I think he could be right, I never found girls attractive at all… What do I do? Everyone would be so upset if they knew and Mom would be shattered.

I could adopt kids I know but I don’t want any kids, Sarah is enough to count and she’s my little sister!

Do I dare tell any of our friends? What if they are secretly homophobes and I damage our relationship for telling this? I don’t want to lose their friendship and I’m sure both of them would be really upset as well.

After school Jet and I headed home and he prepared dinner while I clean up the house.

I was still thinking about what happened earlier, so I really am one of those evil people Mom talked about… I am on the dark side, this is bothering me yet at the same time I don’t want to run away from it, but still there is no one I’m interested in even excluding girls.

Almost every boy I met is off putting.

As for Blood, he’s just my best friend and nothing more, I would never do anything with him other than just be his friend.

I sigh trying to concentrate but thoughts began to flash into my mind as I washed the glasses, what if I did fall in love? How am I going to hide it from everyone else? What if he gets frustrated we have to hide all the time?

I trembled as I try to make sure not to knock down the glasses, I don’t want to fall in love, not yet, not when I’m still living with everyone else, I won’t mind if Jet are old enough to manage Sarah and him and I don’t have to take care of both of them if Mom passes but not when I still have everyone around me.

Still how would Blood and Ariel be by then? Would they be married with kids? I envy those two for being normal people…

My eyes widened when I heard a loud crash, I turned my head, I must have knocked down a glass when I was distracted!

“What’s the matter big brother?” Jet asked, turning his head.

I turned to him “N-nothing” I lied.

“Your face looks red…”

“Ah it’s nothing special, I just feel a little warm!”

Jet shook his head “You can’t kid me Kleude, you’re blushing.”

I turned away “I-I…”

“Do you have a crush on anyone?”

“No I don’t, it’s just that I…”

“Tell me, maybe I’ll understand.”

I shook my head “Sorry but I want to think about it, I don’t want to tell just yet.”

I don’t know what Jet is thinking but he didn’t ask me anymore questions.

Tonight we played Star Ocean at Ariel’s house, looking at private action events in Nede.

There was one in a city named Armlock where Ashton is by a café asking to have tea with Claude.

“Just the two of us you and I?” I said.

“Hmm wonder what that means” said Blood.

“Why don’t we just agree instead?” said Ariel.

“And watch Mr Barrel Anchors sip juice out of a barrel and eat cake from a barrel?” I said “I can totally imagine that.”

“Kleude…”

“That guy is weird…”

Blood chose yes and they headed for the café.

There were three drinks with ridiculous sounding names, one of them was ‘Heartthrob…’

Blood burst out laughing “Oh my god a drink named Heartthrob! That’s priceless!”

“Which drink shall we pick?” Jet asked.

“Gifts from the seashore sounds nice” said Ariel.

“Or Unforgettable memories’ I said.

Blood picked the bottom choice.

“Seriously Bloody you want a drink name Heartthrob?”

“I bet it will be funny” he said giving a sheepish grin.

I raised my eyebrow, Blood can be pretty weird sometimes…

The waitress suddenly walked off when Claude ordered the drink leaving Ashton confused.

“Hey you forgot about Ashton!” said Jet.

“Nobody cares for the man with the dragons on his back boo hoo hoo” I said.

And the waitress returned with a very fancy looking drink with two straws.

“Ooo I want to drink like this…” said Ariel.

Claude and Ashton went red.

“Oh dear what’s going on?”

Ashton and Claude suddenly went dangerously close to each other to drink.

All of us screamed “What!?”

“Oh my gosh that is unexpected” said Ariel.

“Are they gay lovers” said Blood.

“That is disgusting if they are” said Jet.

They realize I actually backed off from the TV.

“Hey what’s wrong?” Blood asked me.

“T-that is…”

“Why is your face red?”

I shut my eyes trying to think up of an excuse fast, I opened my eyes and yelled “That was absolutely disgusting!”

“Huh that moment?”

“How can they put such a scandalous thing on a video game!?”

“Kleude please calm down-“

I stormed out of the room before Blood could finish sitting by the hallway.

It’s so shocking to see a moment like that, sipping a love float together in a city…

Does that make Claude and Ashton those type of people? Is there anything really wrong with homosexuality?

I shouldn’t have snapped at the others but that was so shocking…

Mrs Maverick arrived at the hallway “Kleude what are you doing here?”

“Oh hello Mrs Maverick!” I said getting up.

“Did anything happen? Why are you suddenly here?”

I shut my mouth do I dare tell her what happened earlier? She might take it the wrong way, she seems like a very understanding woman but I’m not sure if she will understand this situation.

“I just got into a fight…”

Mrs Maverick sigh walking away.

I looked back, opening the door a little, they are playing the game talking about what a shocking thing I just did screaming at that moment and running away.

Jet agreed the moment is sick and hope he doesn’t have to see another one like that.

I dare not go in watching them play with the AI as the second player, I probably should wait til it’s over before I return.

They managed to get back to visit complete the sky dungeon before they declare its late and they should save.

Jet turned his head when Ariel tried to kiss Blood on the cheeks but Blood refused once more (when will he ever accept I wonder) saying he wants to wait a bit before he decided he was ready.

Jet and Ariel left the room, Ariel tried to ignore me while I told Jet I want to talk to Blood for a moment, he said he will go home first and I shouldn’t hang out for too long.

I stepped into Blood’s room, he looks pretty nervous…

“Blood I’m really sorry, I shouldn’t snap just because those two might be in love” I said.

“It’s okay, I understand how you feel” he said.

“Blood…”

“It’s so strange to see a couple that are not one guy and a girl…”

I choked on myself, should I tell him the reason I snapped? But I get this feeling that Blood might not be open to that stuff…

“Kleude?”

“Sorry Blood but I…”

“Please tell me what’s wrong, I will listen to you, just let your worries out.”

“Sorry Blood but I’m still not sure about my thoughts yet…”

“It’s okay, I get you, you want to think about it first.”

I nodded patting his head returning home.

I tried to be cheerful when I returned home, helping Jet bathe, chatting with him about random stuff and greeting goodnight to him but as soon as he closed his eyes I rushed to the bathroom and locked myself to cry on the sink.

Shit this is affecting my mind, I really am gay and anything that set it off is distracting me…

But who do I tell? I can’t risk letting my family know, I’ll be out of the house if they do and it might damage my friendship with Blood and Ariel.

I can’t keep it in forever but I don’t know who to tell my situation to.


	25. Chapter 25

4/3/2007

I counted all the money I have, 15 tamu… I think just getting Mom to a fancy restaurant for a nice dinner would be at least 200 tamu just for her, Jet wanted to contribute but I don’t think his money would be enough before the date of her death either.

We tried to tell ourselves she will make it but we still want to grant all of her wishes just in case even if she says otherwise.

Maybe I should ask Ariel what to do…

It’s raining outside though, so I need an umbrella.

Hopefully no one else wants to go out for today.

When I headed to their gates I saw Blood and Ariel by the gate holding an umbrella talking to each other.

I also saw Red walking to their direction, he frowned at me but before he could say anything he just gasped with his mouth wide open when he saw Ariel.

“She’s so beautiful…” he said.

Ariel frowned, clutching Blood’s arm as Red approached her “I’m Red Leiner would you like to go to the bowling alley with me?”

“No!” Ariel yelled.

“Back off, she’s my girlfriend” said Blood.

“Why don’t you hang out with me instead?” said Red ignoring Blood “I am a better choice than that short boy with bad hair.”

“Hey I will grow big and strong like my Dad just you wait!”

“Think about it…”

Ariel frown deepen, she actually slapped Red “Go away you creep! I don’t want to date someone like you! You bullied one of my other friends!”

“Urg what do you see in that fag of a cat?”

“He’s not gay! You’re just making it up to upset him!”

Red grunted rubbing his sore cheeks walking off.

Ariel sigh hugging Blood “I will never date someone like Red, he’s mean to Kleude and you.”

Blood sigh pulling her cheeks “It’s okay Ariel…”

Ariel smiled lowering her head slightly to kiss his cheek, he pushed her away at once “What’s wrong?”

“I dunno if I want this yet Ariel… I want to hold this on still.”

Ariel shook her head pulling herself away from him.

“Hey are you two done yet?” I asked.

They gasped turning to my direction “Oh Kleude how long have you been here?” Ariel asked.

“Err since Red arrived…”

“O-oh I’m sorry you had to hear what he said!”

I clamped my mouth, should I tell what he said was the truth? I’m still not sure if they will understand yet.

“What’s wrong?” Blood asked.

“Ah, it’s nothing” I said.

“So why are you here anyway?”

“Can we talk inside first?”

We headed to the mansion.

“Okay Mom wants to go to an expensive restaurant once in her life and to the mountains” I said “We are doing our best to get her well but all of us want to please her wishes before she dies.”

“Doesn’t she want you to have a family and lots of kids?” said Blood.

“Well… I am not raising a family as young as Mom and Dad did you know…” I huffed.

“So why did you go to my house for?” Ariel asked.

“I was wondering how do I get Mom to a restaurant and get a safe journey to the mountains, I really don’t want to ask you for money but-“

“I will help you!”

“Huh but Ariel…”

“You and your brother are my friends I’ll do anything for you mom, I’ll just ask Dad, he’ll say yes!”

My ears fell “Ariel…”

“You want your Mom to be happy right?”

I nodded.

“Then it’s settled! I’ll ask Dad when he returns home!”

I looked at her then to Blood then back to Ariel, I feel like owe them so much…

I headed back home, when I turned back to glimpse at them they were holding hands and smiling… They seem so happy and perfect…

On the way home I saw Eku, Taro and some classmates playing baseball. Leslie is cheering for them next to a box of Catherine wheels.

Many of the boys in the fields are rather handsome but I know they won’t like me, I barely know about them myself.

Still it’s fun to watch them play, Eku is pretty good at baseball and so are many of the boys.

Suddenly Leslie yelled “Yay let’s celebrate!” and began to throw the Catherine wheels on the air.

I screamed as they fizzled everywhere, the boys running before it could catch them.

“So colourful!” said Leslie.

“Leslie stop that, they will get serious burns!” Eku yelled.

“But the wheels are so colourful!” Leslie whined “Besides they will recover right?”

“Oh Leslie…” she shook her head and patted the shorter girl on the head.

I gulped and headed back home, that is one interesting watch…

On the way I heard yelling from a familiar voice that always calms me down, Blood… I smiled to as he waved to me with his big goofy smile.

“Hey Kleude want to have lunch with me together this afternoon?” he asked.

I nodded, he cheered as we headed to his home for lunch, but I told him I have to go home first in case Jet or Sarah wants to go out and need an umbrella.

I dropped the umbrella by the doorway, they are resting in the living room but who knows…

Blood shared his umbrella with me as we headed for his house.

His mother is peeling vegetables in the kitchen.

She waved to Blood and stopped to look at me, I cocked my head do I have zit on my face? Or rashes?

“Wow you are growing rather… cute Kleude” she said.

“Cute?” I said.

“Don’t take it too personally but you look rather pretty.”

I tugged at my hair, she’s right… I know I am becoming rather effeminate looking but I don’t really care even though most of my classmates makes fun of me because of it.

“Oh Mom don’t tell him that” said Blood.

“O-oh sorry!”

I sigh to myself as Blood helped his mom to prepare lunch, they asked me if I want to help but I refuse.

After the vegetables are cut and boiled into a stew we sat on the living room to eat.

It’s enjoyable tasting the warm vegetables all mixed together… I didn’t mind that the carrots are not raw at all just having Blood around next to me on the couch makes this stew all the better. Ariel is going to be such a happy woman when she grows up and have such a nice person to be her husband…

We are all lucky to meet a person like him. I wonder what our lives would be like if we never met him. Or if Ariel never met Jet and me…

“Hey you got a bit of the stew on your face” said Blood.

I looked at his fingers as he wiped the stew off “…”

“Oh how about we hang out just the two of us? If your family don’t get too worried.”

“They don’t mind if I’m out until bedtime so sure.”

He smiled at me, I wonder what are we going to do now?

He took us out of the house holding the umbrella so we don’t get wet.

We were heading for an arcade…

We looked through games, Blood seems interested at all the driving games but decided against it since he knew I hated racing games.

We stopped at a cabinet called Sonic the Fighters.

“Ooo fighting games!” said Blood.

I went to the second port inserting a coin.

We went through the roster, Blood picked the red echidna, I looked through the list.

Ooo the pink hedgehog has a hammer…

“Haha take that red guy with big hands I have an even bigger mallet!” I yelled.

Unfortunately Knuckles pulverized Amy and defeated her with minimal damage, I grunted inserting another coin.

I managed to deal more damage but I lost again, I kept inserting coins, I managed to do better but Blood still kept beating me.

I sigh inserting my last coin… Maybe one last time.

Surprisingly Knuckles seem much easier this time so I managed to beat him.

I frowned, could Blood be doing this on purpose so I get a win?

I looked at him, he’s grinning at me… maybe he really did lower his guard to give me one victory.

As we headed out of the arcade it stopped raining, Blood cheered jumping on top of a puddle, I backed off so it won’t splash all over me.

He spun around, stopping on my direction “Hey Kleude do you have any girls in mind?”

“H-huh?” I went pale.

“Just curious, it’s okay if you don’t.”

I shook my head.

“Do you have any ideal person in your mind though?”

“I-I…”

“That’s okay if you don’t I get you.”

He grinned skipping all the way back home, I followed him “You know Kleude it’s a pity you and I don’t go to the same school, then we can have lunch every day and hang out more often.”

I sigh brushing his spikey hair with my hand “You are lucky though…”

“If only…” his smile faded for a while but he smiled again shortly after “Never mind.”

We just continued walking all the way back, well I walked all the way back he ran.

“Gotta get fit” said Blood “Or I won’t get strong.”

“Okay…” I said.

We spent the rest of the day hanging out before I have to go home, when I returned Jet and Sarah and playing with Toad and Mario stacking towers in the living room, I smiled getting out Daisy and yelling she wants to join as well.


	26. Chapter 26

5/5/2007

The history teacher asked the class to do a coop project about the Kishin Kori history for two months, Moton grumbled that I have to help him since I’m no use to him at all.

“Well I didn’t ask to sit next to you” I said.

“Whatever fool” said Moton.

I can see why many of the students other than the girls who crush on him, hates him, he’s so insufferable he always wants perfect grade and morns when he gets even one answer wrong.

He wanted to do all the project himself but I decided to do something, I should get the knowledge after all it might be used for future tests.

“To have that fag of a cat spoiling my grade…” said Moton during break.

“Oh Moton how do you get such perfect grades” said a girl.

“Yeah you’re so smart!” said another.

Moton doesn’t seem to notice complaining over and over again, he eventually hit me with a ruler “Listen if you screw up my chance as a doctor you will pay.”

“Oooh Moton wants to be a doctor?” said a girl.

“I want to be one of his patients!” said another.

“Me too!” said yet another.

“Shut up you little bitches!” Moton yelled.

“Oh my god he just got mad!” said a girl.

“We must cheer him up!” said another.

I sigh trying to ignore Moton as he yelled at me over and over again. That guy needs a chill pill seriously.

After school I decided to visit Blood to relax from all that nagging playing Star Ocean Second story.

Unfortunately Blood is out according to his mother, could he be hanging out with Ariel? Shrugging my shoulders I headed back for home.

On the way I saw Moton studying with a lamp made of fireflies, he frowned at me “What do you want retard?”

“Stop calling me that!”

“Look you bought my grade down many times you know-“

“Why are you so obsessed about getting perfect grades? You always complain at the smallest mistakes or mess up.”

He frowned “I want to be a doctor you know that perfectly well.”

“Yeah but why do you need a perfect score for everything!?”

“You don’t understand I live in a poor family without much money!”

“…”

“I don’t want to be another poor nobody in the middle of nowhere, I want to be doctor so everyone will recognize me and I won’t be poor anymore.”

I frowned giving him a sharp slap on his face.

“What was that for you little asshat!?”

“I’m poor too” I said “But I all I just want is to be able to sleep in peace without worrying what will happen to me every day!”

“Shut up you lazy cat you are just trying to make an excuse to slack off!” he stormed off to study somewhere else.

I bit my lip, should I study and get perfect marks just to shut up him up? I hope I can memorize everything when we have to hand our work together…

At home I took out my history textbook about Kishi Korin to study.

When Jet got dinner ready he set it next to me, however I can barely eat as I try to study.

Three hours later I feel tired… I bent on my chair and let out a yawn getting off.

I was looked through the window, it’s night time…

My eyes widened when I saw Ariel and Blood walking arm to arm, they look so happy…

I wish I could get someone to smile like Blood did with Ariel…

Their faces went closer as they walked, Ariel kissed Blood on the cheeks!

Whoa… I sigh taking my eyes off, wow… they really are perfect for each other…

I want to study some more but I feel really tired and I don’t want my brains to explode yet, I do not need to be a literal dumb blonde.

I headed for an early bed so I can study more tomorrow.

5/7/2007

Everyone is really worried about me in the past two months I have spent more time studying and less time to hang around with anyone, I told them I want to get a good grade for my desk mate, Jet told me I shouldn’t be so fixated about that but I just want him for once to stop being a mean jerk to me.

Still I feel so tired today thinking about the project today… I hope I hope I got everything right, I researched to no end to make sure I got things right.

I handed the project to the teacher to await markings.

I shook nervously hoping to get perfect marks…

The teacher handed Moton’s project.

“Yes 100 out of 100” he said.

Moton suddenly frowned when he glimpsed at my project, he slapped me with his book “Why do you keep bringing my grades down you moron!?”

I rubbed my head wondering what I did wrong, after the teacher finished grading my work he handed it to me.

98... I got two mistakes… I checked through them, why are they wrong? I checked everything thoroughly!

I took a look at Moton’s paper, I didn’t check so thoroughly after all…

I bit my lip, there’s nothing I can do to get this jerk to not get pissed off…

I slumped all the way home, even if I try I can’t even get a smidgen bit of peace…

Jet noticed my face but he didn’t say a thing all the way through, he isn’t in a much better situation with everyone calling him names, I don’t want to get him involved in this…

I just want to hide somewhere in peace for a while now and Sarah demands a lot of attention.

After dinner I headed to the meadow for some alone time.

I felt calmer in the meadow it’s so beautiful and relaxing… I looked at the bit of gap on a tree, I know that there are dangerous monsters deep in the woods but the herbs in there are also sought after since they make good medicine.

Are there any medicine to cure Mom’s cancer? I wonder if there is really such a thing…

I sigh looking at the clear water, I should take my mind off everything and just relax…

“Hey Kleude!” I raised my head, Blood!

He’s alone so he must taking a walk, I just want to be alone yet I don’t want to upset him either…

“Wow you look haggard…” he said.

“…”

“Is something bothering you?”

I decided to tell him what happened earlier in school, he listened the entire way.

“So you are in here because you want to get some peace alone?”

I nodded.

“Maybe I should go away, you want to be alone for a while don’t you?” he gasped when I put my arms around him.

“I-I-I just don’t want to be snubbed at for everything” I said “I’m nothing but a nuisance to you, my family and everyone else!”

I trembled on his chest as his hand went to my head “You are not a nuisance at all Kleude, you always brighten up my day and I’m sure your family loves you very much as well…”

“B-Blood…”

“I love you too, you are like a brother I never have…”

“I love you too Blood…”

We stayed like that for several minutes before he broke off and said he wants to continue running, I decided to return home to play with Jet and Sarah.


	27. Chapter 27

12/8/2007

It’s been eight months since Blood and Ariel started dating, they kissed on the cheeks before, they held hands, they even hugged but Blood always refuse an offer to kiss on the lips.

I wonder why, they are getting along very well when we meet up and they seem so in love.

Jet and I are at home wondering what kind of restaurant would Mom like, she likes sweets and vegetable soup so we should get a shop that sells exotic sweets and minestrone.

We ended up with three choices, we have to ask Mom which one she wants once we get Ariel’s father to fund for us during Christmas, it’ll be a lovely treat for her.

But when will we be able to take Mom to the mountains? It shouldn’t be too hot or too cold.

I feel like we owe a lot of debt once we get all of Mom’s wishes complete…

But at the moment Jet and I decided to order a strawberry pie for Sarah since she is very good today actually helping us clean.

As we head to the bakery we saw Blood and Ariel walking into the bakery.

“What are they up to?” Jet asked, I can hint a sense of jealousy in his voice… Does he have a crush on Ariel?

We looked through the window, trying to hide ourselves with the pots hanging on the sills, I hope our ears could pass off as brown plants…

They ordered hamburg steaks, fruit juice and carrot cakes.

As the waiter walked away to get their food, Ariel said ”Blood something tells me you don’t want to advance this, it’s already four months already and you keep refusing to kiss, you e-even…”

“Sorry Ariel but I really don’t feel ready, I’m feeling something strange and I’m suspecting that-that…” Blood looked away.

“Blood… do you still love me?”

“Ariel I will always love you but…” he couldn’t finish his sentence when the waiter returned with their food, they didn’t say another thing during the entire meal.

We hid ourselves as they were about to leave.

“What is going on?” Jet asked.

“I thought they were getting along so well…” I said.

Jet stared at me “Brother?”

“Nothing special.”

“But weren’t they so happy when we are around?”

“Should we see what happens?”

“Okay…”

They stopped at the meadow.

Ariel is crying for some reason with Blood looking at her helplessly.

“What did he just do?” Jet asked.

My eyes squinted, what just happened? I have to ask him about this later…

Later after they left the meadow we headed off as well.

“That Blood what did he just say to upset Ariel?” said Jet “I must comfort her.”

He headed to Ariel’s house, maybe I should ask Blood about it now.

His mother got the door so I had to keep my cool in front of her.

However as soon as I headed to his room I slammed the door yelling “Blood Maverick what did you do to Ariel to make her cry!?”

“Huh what do you mean?” he got out of his bed.

“Jet and I saw you two, Ariel was crying.”

“You saw us?” he pointed at me I nodded, he sigh sitting down on his bed again “We broke up…”

“What happened? You two seem to be getting along so well, why did you break up with her?”

“You won’t laugh if I told you right?”

“Why would I laugh at you for?”

“Lately I felt this feeling when there are boys around, I didn’t know what is was but it was different from how I feel with Ariel, I began to suspect that I like boys and this feeling I have for Ariel is not really a crush and I told Ariel we should stop.”

My ears twitched, could Blood be gay?

“I’ve been wondering about what I like lately and I think I know now, I could be gay…”

“What will your mother say?” I said softly.

“I don’t think she will mind, I think Dad will accept it as well, they are very approving about a lot of things.”

I looked away, should I tell him now? Hiding it from everyone is taking a lot of weight into my heart.

I took a deep breath and look at him again “Blood I have a secret for months, I’m gay too…”

“Huh?”

“I want to tell this but I don’t know who to tell until you told me that you were gay so I thought you might understand.”

He just stared at me for a long time, I don’t feel very comfortable… “I’m sorry Blood but I need to get this off my chest…”

He turned his head back to me “It’s okay I get you, your family is homophobic and you are afraid.”

I nodded.

“If you find someone you love, I will support you.”

“I will support you too Bloody…”

We sigh to each other, I finally got this thing off my chest to someone… Some lucky boy would be very happy with Blood someday…

He’s nice and cheerful, who wouldn’t be able to resist him.

I took a look at his unruly hair and small built, if anyone were to take advantage of him though… he seems so vulnerable, I have to make sure no creep gets to him.

“I sure hope I didn’t hurt Ariel too much…” said Blood.

“Why don’t you apologize to her?” I said.

“Yeah I should! But I think I’ll wait til tomorrow, she might need some time.

I shook my head getting off his bed.

On the way I saw Ariel and Jet talking, my brother is trying to comfort her, she perked up a bit at his words. I noticed something she has two bumps on her chest… they are much smaller than Mom and even Leslie’s ones but they are a little bigger than Eku’s.

Would she get massive breasts or not? I’m sure it will be painful if she gets large. I’m glad I’m male, that means I will never have a back breaking chest unless I’m fat and I don’t plan on putting on weight anytime.

Still I wonder what do all the boys sees in girls…

Maybe it’s how slim and delicate they are, I mean even gay magazines have these slim dainty boys with big powerful ones.

Or big macho wrestlers. I’m sure that would be Blood’s heaven.

Jet patted Ariel’s shoulder reassuring her that there are still plenty of nice boys before meeting up with me to go home.

Poor Ariel, will she have someone else to love her like how our parents love each other one day?


	28. Chapter 28

10/9/2007

Brr autumn is cold… I can feel the fur on my ears and tail rise up like icicles…

I adjusted my tail so I can hold the end, gees if I were a dog or a fox I would have a big bushy tail with lots of fur and I could use it as a warmer but no I’m just a house cat.

One of the most basic type and the most common one at that.

And one of the most bothersome, all I do is annoy everyone in school and actually prevented Jet from getting any friends as well.

I rubbed my hands to get a bit of heat, it’d be nice to have someone to hang out with and have a date.

But who would date a person with cat ears? All of the other half beast people in my school can’t get a date to save their lives unless it’s from their own race.

Well except for the peacock boys and butterfly people. I think it’s the beauty of the wings/tails.

Although the peacock boys did complain their tails are huge and draw attention to them and some of the butterfly folks cannot fly so they have the same problem as the male peacocks.

I sneezed, good thing our house is warm enough, Mom would certainly get really sick in this cold air.

“Aw a beautiful girl like you shouldn’t be so sad…” I lifted my head up.

A tanned boy with short black hair and baseball cap about a foot taller than me is looking down at me. He’s Red’s brother but I don’t know his name.

“E-er…”

“You should get something warm you look pale.”

“I can just go home and get some hot water mister er…”

“Derick.”

“I can just get some hot water at home Mister Derick” I turned away to head back home but I can’t help but stare at Derick, he’s rather good looking like Red is… But what is he like? Is he as mean as Red?

Derick laughed “Aw you are cute all red faced like that but I already have a girlfriend.”

“I’m sorry!”

“It’s okay.”

I sigh in relief.

“But you know you are the same race as that boy my little brother is always going on about that is always looking at boys funny.”

“Oh?”

“I wonder if you seen a boy like that?”

I kept my mouth shut, he would probably be mad if he knew I was staring at his brother and I’m the one Red was talking about, after all big brothers are usually very protective of their siblings.

Suddenly loud noises of the police siren blared, we turned ourselves to see a police car heading to a flower shop.

Leslie got pulled out by some cops in the shop, she has a flame thrower in her hand.

Red was following her as well watching as the police tried to deal with her.

“You should never bring flame throwers in a shop little girl” said one of the cops.

“But I want to see the flowers on fire, I’m sure they’ll turn black and crispy!”

“Why didn’t you stop her young man?” the cop turned to Red.

“What she does is none of my concern” he said.

“But she could have destroyed the whole shop.”

Red huffed walking away even though the cop is yelling at him to stay.

“Little girl if the shop caught on fire it might have killed a lot of people” said another cop.

“But wouldn’t someone save us? Mommy said that men can survive anything!” Leslie yelled.

“Your mother is wrong, they will die like women will and they won’t come back.”

“That’s a lie, Mommy is never wrong!”

“Sometimes parents can be” she got interrupted as Leslie began to cry.

“Why are all of you so mean to Mommy?”

“We are not being mean to her we are just trying to tell you what you did is wrong.”

“It’s not wrong! The flowershop man can easily rebuild his shop!”

“Wow that girl sure is pretty violent…” said Derick.

“She’s always like that” I said.

“Hmm…”

I screamed when Red walked in our direction, trying to run away.

“Hey what’s wrong?”

“I don’t like Red, he’s a mean person!”

“What’s so mean about my brother?”

Unfortunately Red saw me, he frowned “What were you trying to do to my brother faggot?”

“Red calm down, she’s just watching what happened to the girl who almost set the shop on fire.”

“Nonsense he’s trying to seduce you!

“What? He?” Derick cocked his head.

“Don’t be fooled, he’s a guy like you and me.”

Derick’s eyes widened as he looked at me from head to feet, I don’t like it at all…

“Your hair, face and slim body threw me off…” he said.

“…” I looked on the ground.

“Get away from him, he wants your dick or your ass” said Red.

Derick frowned at Red “Will you stop that talk? He seems like a nice guy.”

Red’s eyes widened as his brother dragged him away somewhere else, I cocked my head, whoa…

I was about to head home when someone touched at my tail.

I turned around, a little girl who hits to my chest with dark green hair is holding my tail. She looks like a miniature version of Blood’s teacher…

“Ooo soft” she said feeling my fur, she touched the skin as well “Ooo it a tail has a bone…”

She realize that I’m looking at her and gasped “Ah sorry!”

“You look familiar” I said.

“Oh, you’re that friend Blood is on about.”

“You know Blood?”

“Yeah he’s one of my classmates!”

I stared at the girl, Blood is already really short for his age and this girl must be a head shorter than he is.

“He said that you were his bestest friend ever and he loved having you around.”

“T-thank you…” I felt so happy, so Blood really is happy with my company!

“What’s wrong Mister Kitty?”

“Nothing.”

I headed back home to recover for a bit, sweeping up cobwebs on the window.

Derick seems like a nice person but he already has a girlfriend.

Tonight Jet and I met up with Ariel to visit Blood in his house.

She doesn’t seem to be upset that they broke up, I’m amazed.

We continued Star Ocean second story.

One of the areas has a crazy high encounter rate but the bunny slippers did have a very high stamina so we can recover a lot of HP and SP so we don’t have to use so much strawberry cakes, chocolate crepe and tuna sashimi.

By the time we headed for the boss we still have 11 of those stuff and we have to go back to the world map.

We used the cooking talent in a town so we can refill the ingredients to get more supply of food for everyone.

We managed to go to two dungeons so we only have one left but it’s late and we have to go home.

On the way I saw Red walking on the way he looks really angry.

“What’s up with him?” said Jet.

All of a sudden he punched me on the face making me collapse on the ground.

“Big brother!”

“How dare you, you freak! You just earned the trust of my brother!”

“What he just saw me outside sneezing, I didn’t do anything” I said.

“Yes you did! He’s pissed off and hit me because of you!”

“You should have stopped Leslie you know. I’m sure it’s because of that.”

“Yes he did hit me because of that but that doesn’t matter, you will pay you faggot!”

Jet ran in front of me “Don’t hit him! He didn’t do anything to make your brother so angry!”

“Shut up unless you want me to hit you as well!”

“Go ahead hit me, I don’t care as long as you don’t hurt him.”

“Jet move, you have nothing to do with this” I said.

“B-but…”

“Kleude I won’t let you get hurt if I can help it, you don’t deserve to get hurt…” he was smiling at me…

I frowned, pulling him away from Red and trying to head back home, whatever happened to Red, he deserved it. Doesn’t he care for anything?


	29. Chapter 29

25/12/2007

Christmas! Mom deserves a nice treat, Jet, Sarah and I greeted her in her bedroom.

“Merry Christmas!” we yelled.

“Oh thank you dears!” said Mom “Merry Christmas to you three as well.”

Jet and I grinned to each other before he approach Mom “Mom we want to take you somewhere nice tonight.”

“That’s nice dear.”

“Would you like to go to a restaurant in town?”

Her eyes widened “But aren’t they expensive?”

“It doesn’t matter Mom we got it funded.”

She looked at all of us suspiciously, she will find out why when we head for dinner tonight.

Jet and I helped her out of bed, wait for her to get dressed and head out of the house to town.

“Where are we going?” Mom asked.

“You wait for a moment, we’ll get you to one of the nicest part of town” I said.

She cocked her head as we took her to the area with all the lovely fancy restaurants and beautiful fountains.

“Oh but aren’t these places really expensive?”

“Don’t worry Mom, don’t worry about our money” I said.

Ariel and her father were sitting on a cafe “Oh hello Mrs Fleming” said Ariel.

“Your sons told us you wanted to go out on a nice dinner so we are going to make sure you get a nice dinner” said Mr Vermillion.

“Oh but it doesn’t matter if I don’t go I-“

“Don’t worry so much, just enjoy yourself” said Ariel.

Mom looked at Ariel and her father and sigh.

We toured her around to look at the menu, she went into a little homey looking shop with white walls and wooden floorings.

Inside I glanced around as Mom ordered some sweets, hot lemon tea and minestrone.

Taro is sitting in a cafe with Elesa in a table.

She seems so happy, she’s not going to be happy for very long again I can sense it. What does she see in Taro anyway?

I can’t help but feel sorry for her, she’s going to get her heart broken so many times over a boyfriend who won’t stick to just one girl, most of them don’t seem to mind but Elesa does.

“What’s wrong Kleude?” Mom asked.

“O-oh nothing mom” I said.

I had to look down a bit to look at her, I realize I grown a bit even though my voice is still a bit high.

“You are getting big dear...”

I looked at my skinny arms, I don’t feel very big...

Some teenagers about my age entered the cafe, I noted that one of them is an elf boy but a cat girl with furry hands, some markings on her face, ears and tail was clinging onto him.

“Ooohhh...” I said.

“What’s the matter?” Mom asked.

“I didn’t think t-that...”

“It doesn’t matter what race you are dear, you may have cat ears and a tail but it doesn’t matter who you fall for. Full humans, the dog folks, faeries, as long as you love them and they love you it doesn’t matter.”

I looked at the couples again, interesting...

There was a generous serving of food for Mom, she looked at the food smiling at them before grabbing a spoon to eat the minestrone.

“Go mommy go!” Sarah yelled.

Mom smiled patting her head.

Jet and Ariel are talking to each other, they are smiling and laughing the whole way.

I sigh, brushing some hair off my face, it’s near the end of 2007 now... just three more years and I can get away from school forever and finally be able to sleep in peace...

But of course there’s the job thing... I certainly can’t go to college.

But I won’t have to be with so many people anymore so yay.

After Mom finished her meal we sat on the beautiful fountain, Sarah jumped into the water to play.

“Whoa Sarah you’ll catch a cold!” said Jet.

Sarah didn’t seem to mind splashing water about.

Mom giggled at her, watching her. All of a sudden she let out a throaty cough, clutching her heart.

“Mom!” Jet and I yelled.

“What is wrong with Mama?” Sarah asked.

We tried to help her up to get her back home to rest. Ariel and Mr Vermillion helped us as well.

Back at home we covered Mom in blankets to let her rest.

“Ahh... I’m sorry boys...” she groaned.

“It’s okay Mom you need to rest” I said.

“If only I can spend more time with you three...”

“Don’t stress so much, just rest, we’ll make sure you recover and be with all of us for many more years!” I almost spat when I said all of this but Mom can’t give up hope now!

Mom just collapsed on the bed to rest.

“Big brothers what is wrong with Mommy?” Sarah asked.

“She’s just resting” said Jet.

“Ohh will she be able to play with me again?”

“Later.”

“But let’s go to the living room first” said Ariel.

“Okay!”

On the living room we looked into the toy chest for some dolls to play with.

“Miss Ariel can I play with your toys?” Sarah asked.

“H-huh?”

“I wanna go to your house and play with some cute dollies!”

“Okay...” she closed the toy box and headed out of our house leading Sarah to her mansion.

On the gates we heard some sniffing, we turned to see Elesa leaning by a fence of a nearby house crying.

Ariel rushed to the crying girl “What’s wrong?” she asked.

She shrieked when she realize there’s someone in front of her “W-what do you want to know?”

“You were crying, something bad must have happened.”

“Mind your own business!”

“Please tell me what’s wrong, maybe I can help you.”

“Get lost! It’s none of your concern-” she stopped when she saw me and screamed even louder “It’s the cat boy!”

“Huh?” Ariel turned to me “Kleude?”

“I’m sure he’s going to take me away from Taro and do something horrible to me!”

“Don’t worry too much, he won’t do anything to-“ before she could finish Elesa screamed even louder and ran off.

“You are going to help him drug me or something!”

Ariel tried to follow her but I stopped her “Sorry Ariel but she’s rather high strung...” I said.

“But why is she saying such horrible things about you?”

“It’s Taro... he tried to prevent any of his girlfriend from coming near me but Elesa seems to really like him.”

“Poor girl if only Taro realizes it...”

“He does it’s just that he finds it hard to commit to just one girl, I think.”

“What’s with all that noise!?” all of us ran off to Ariel’s mansion before her neighbour could get to us.

“What’s wrong with that girl?” Sarah asked.

Neither of us were willing to tell Sarah the truth, she will know when she gets older.

Still though it’s a big wonder she’s so cheerful after all these years. Maybe she will get less cheerful after all the incidents Jet and (especially) me face but I think Dad will want to make sure she gets to a good school. He dotes on her a lot.


	30. Chapter 30

30/13/2007

Wow does time fly fast, I took a look at my hair, it’s grown in the last few years to my shoulders, I didn’t really mind it too much even though it doesn’t really help with my looks.

I have to wonder though how does Red look so manly despite having such a ponytail past his hips.

Must be the toned arms.

I sigh wrapping a scarf around my face and headed with Jet to school.

I headed to the meadow again when we left the house, on the way I saw Mrs Maverick holding some bags with goods in them, they look rather heavy as she struggled to make sure they don’t fall off...

I rushed to her “May I help you Mrs Maverick?” I asked.

“Oh, you’re skipping school again?” she asked.

“I’m sorry I know I should stay but...”

“It’s okay I get you but you can carry a few goods for me” she handed some of her bags to me.

One of the bags was rather heavy but I didn’t complain as I followed her back to her house.

Inside the house we set everything on the kitchen to unload.

“I bet you will be relived once you can leave school in another three years huh?”

I nodded.

“Blood says he will miss all his friends once they graduate to colleges, work or leave Astterica...”

“Mrs Maverick...” I gripped my fist, does she know that Blood is gay?

She sigh “I know he will be a happy young man helping others when he gets older” she looked at me “Blood told something to you before didn’t he?”

I stopped unloading the supplies, so he did tell his Mother “Yes...”

“He told it to me that he wasn’t going to be able to produce grandkids for Leon and me since he likes boys, he was pretty rattled but I told him that it’s okay and it’s not his fault.”

“I see...”

“He told me about your case as well?”

I perked head up “He did?”

“Why don’t you tell your parents about it? Your mother seems like a very understanding woman.”

“I can’t... they’ll surely kick me out of the house, well Mom might not but she’ll be shattered and tell Dad and he will definitely kick me out.”

“Oh...”

“Has Blood found anyone that interests him yet?”

“No.”

I sigh continuing to unload the goods until everything is unloaded.

“Can you help me clean up for a moment until Blood returns? You aren’t going anywhere so you might as well help.”

I nodded my head, I helped clean up the living room, the bathrooms and the two bedrooms.

Blood’s room is a messy disaster especially next to everything else. It took me hours to clean up everything.

By the time I manage to make the room look more respectable I noticed he has a red book with what looks like a padlock similar to that crown in Kingdom Hearts, however it seems to be aesthetic since it doesn’t lock the book up.

I took a look, there were really scratchy looking drawings on the first few pages of who I assume are Sora, Donald and Goofy, terrible artist I thought flipping to more pages of scribbles.

There were writings in a few pages about his life, it seems like he got this book when he was just six according to the date before each paragraph...

‘Wow Mom got me this cool book and told me I can write about my life, I like the colour, red is so heroic just like Sora from the first game I ever tried from a friend, I want to be a hero like him!’

So that’s why he likes Kingdom Hearts so much...

There were more moments about how he spent his life but one particular entree caught my eyes about one month before I met him...

‘It’s horrible, Mom and Dad were fighting in the living room, I played some video games before I decided to stop and head to the bathroom to brush my teeth when I saw Mom and Dad arguing about how Dad is always away exploring and wants him to settle down with us but Dad refuses, I stayed the whole way to watch them as they went on arguing before they finally said they had to break up. I cried and they found out and explained that they can’t get along but they still love me and Dad will try to see me when he can.’

Leon and Mrs Maverick divorced... So that’s why Leon only visits once in a blue moon and there are no double beds in the house.

“Mom I’m home!” a familiar voice yelled, yikes Blood has returned home! I quickly returned the book to its original spot and tried to leave the room.

Unfortunately Blood is running upstairs and saw me “Kleude!”

“I-I was just cleaning your room” I said.

“Okay...” he headed for his room. I should tell him what I saw earlier...

“Blood did your parents really break up?”

“Where did you get such an assumption?”

“Your diary...”

He stopped running looking at me.

“I’m sorry Blood... I shouldn’t look into your diary...”

“You’re right they did...” he suddenly broke into tears “I want Dad to come back with us!”

“But doesn’t he love exploring as well?”

“I will show Dad he has a son good enough to stick around for, I will be a big strong man exploring the world with him!” he stopped suddenly “Who am I kidding he will never come back...”

“Blood...”

He rushed to me leaning his head on my chest, he looks so small and vulnerable(even though he is actually a bit wider than me but how many people are actually as scrawny as I am?) as he cried in front of me, wetting my shirt.

“I just want to see Dad with Mom happily together again... I’ll do anything b-but...”

“I understand Blood, it’s okay, it didn’t have anything to do with you...”

“B-but...”

“Leon still loves you a lot and I’m sure he cares about your Mom it’s just that they can’t really agree about that they do together.”

“I guess you are right...” he stopped crying on my shirt and gave one of his smiles “Thank you so much Kleude...”

I smiled back it’s wonderful to see his adorably cute smiles.

When it’s time to go home, I saw that Red has a girl with long curly red hair, pale yet somehow golden skin and large white butterfly wings holding his arms.

“Happy fourteenth birthday Red” said the girl.

Crap after what he claimed didn’t happen for months I thought that he didn’t really meant what he said and forgot about it.

I realize that he lied, he is younger than me not the other way around.

Almost a year younger than me in fact...

Red just nodded as she rubbed her face on his hands “Oh I can’t wait to feel your cock inside of me...”

Red just took off her shirt revealing her breasts that are held in a lacey bra and her flat stomach.

I covered my eyes and ran off, I don’t need to see that, it’s horrible to see!

Red is going to brag about it to school tomorrow I know he would!

But for now I just want to sleep and get that imagery off my mind.

31/12/2007

I groaned getting up to get dressed for school, I want to skip school but I skipped it for four days in a row, the teachers will surely notice if I didn’t go for one whole week.

I fumbled with the buttons on my shirt getting the buttons wrong, the thought about what is going to happen in school is bothering me.

“Hey what’s wrong big brother Kleude?” Jet asked.

“Nothing...” I groaned.

“Hey you are not buttoning your shirt correctly” he helped me to button my shirt up, I sigh getting out my jacket and zipping it up.

Inside the hallways Red called the whole class to the hall for a big important news.

My ears hung down, I wish I can plug my ears but the holes are in a place way too hard to plug without hurting myself.

Everyone went ooh and aah as Red prepared to start his speech.

“I just had sex with a girl last night on my birthday” he said.

“Oh my gosh that’s awesome!” said one boy.

“I want to have virginity taken by that lucky girl too” said another.

“Who was that girl Red?” Eku asked cocking her eyebrow, leaning by him.

“A butterfly girl named Deanna” I can see Deanna suddenly droop nearby.

“Ooo lucky you to score one of those rare butterfly folks...”

“Go you!” Leslie yelled bouncing about getting one of those pompoms out of her pockets.

“Whatever women...” Red pushed both the girls aside.

“What happened though?” Eku asked.

“She admired the size of my cock saying how long and thick, veiny and red it is and she sucked on it until I came and I licked her pussy and she let out a piercing scream.”

“Oho so she must really loud huh?”

Red ignored Eku’s venomous voice and continued “Her scream got louder and I thrust into her pussy saying it’s so wonderful to have me inside of her and I went faster as her screams got louder and louder until she came and she said I was wonderful.”

I went red pulling the my hair hanging at the sides, does this guy have no shame at all?

“Oh look slutty cat has gone red as a beetroot...” said Eku.

“Aww he’s no fun” Leslie moaned.

“Maybe the woman power is too much for him” Eku puffed her chest out, flicking her long black hair.

“He clearly just wants to get to the salami that freak” said Red.

“Yeah!”

I hung my head again as they went on about how impressive Red is, I turned to look at Deanna.

She’s crying now about what Red just said.

“You shouldn’t have went out with a person like him and let him take your virginity like that” I said.

“Shut up, I heard from Elesa you want to take advantage of women!” she snapped.

“What she said is wrong-“

“Shut up she would never lie!”

Deanna stormed away from the hall still crying, I shook my head, what’s with these girls being taken advantage of and accepting it?


	31. Chapter 31

17/2/2008

I got out of bed looking at the clock on the wall, 6AM still early... I yawned loudly and brushed my teeth and combed my hair before getting dressed.

I headed to Mom’s room to greet her with a peck on the cheeks “Good morning-“ I stopped clamping my mouth, my voice is deeper! I ran out of the room and back to speak to myself.

Yes my voice has changed! I looked down at myself, I’ve gotten taller as well, I’m maturing...

I wonder how will the others be in three years, I already feel so grown up next to them now. I mean I’m already over a head taller than Blood and Ariel and Jet is only slightly shorter than me but I bet they won’t be so small when they grow up.

I tugged a bit of my hair, I look more like Mom every day(minus our eye colour and the fact she has breasts) and less like Dad...

“Hey what’s wrong big brother?” Jet opened our bedroom door.

“J-Jet I-I’m...”

“Your voice has changed...” he pressed his finger to my mouth.

“I’m not a kid anymore...” I trembled “I feel so old next to all of you.”

“Don’t worry all of us will be your age soon.”

But I’ll be old enough to work, get married and go to jail then.

Everyone in my class is growing up slowly but surely as well and soon most of them will change as well.

After going through everyone making fun of me in class about my looks(they never mentioned my voice) Jet and I met up with the others for some video games.

We did Star Ocean 2 having completed the final dungeon so we have to head back to the Central City to tell Nall.

And Nall told everyone that Expel is destroyed, Claude and us knew this but not our other party.

After some mourning the heroes decided to stop the Ten Wise Men since they broke the seal off an area that was blocked off.

We arrived at this area.

“Wow Fienel what a fitting name” I said.

“That means it’s going to end soon!” Blood pumped his fist.

Unfortunately everyone has to run away and suddenly Ronixis appeared.

“Go Claude’s dad!” Blood cheered.

“Save our heroes” said Ariel.

Suddenly something happened and Ronixis’ ship was destroyed, all of us kept quiet, Claude’s dad got killed...

And we were sent back to Central City where we have to go to Armlock, Jet cringed about what I’m assuming was the moment about the love float with Ashton married to barrels Anchor.

We did some more side quest and found out something extremely shocking.

“Oh my gosh Rena is from thousands of years into the past?” said Jet.

“Poor Ariel, her real mom died!” Ariel gasped.

“I feel bad for her” I said.

“Well she still has Westa” said Blood.

“Though she just wanted to see her real mother.”

“...”

We continued until we were about to reach Fienel and Claude and Ashton met up to talk.

“And so our journey will really come to an end...” said Ariel.

“Claude has Rena, Ashton has Precis...” said Blood.

“Ew get that guy away from her!” I said.

“Okay Precis with Leon.”

“Much better.”

“But Claude and Ashton has to help each other since Rena has to heal Precis almost all the time” said Ariel.

“Hmmm you are right...” said Blood.

“What about Noel and Chisato?”

“Oh those two...” he snapped his fingers “They should get married!”

“Cool!” said Jet.

“Okay so Kleude you ready to help heal Noel when you can?”

I nodded replacing Precis to Chisato and replace Claude changed to Noel.

The place is really really long with practically no shops anywhere so we have to conserve our supplies with bunny slippers and blood armours so Noel can heal everyone and get most of his MP restored from high stamina at the end of the battle.

The bosses are crazy however so we have to rely on a lot of Fairy Healings although we did try to use our less useful stat raisers for Noel and Chisato to raise their relationships.

By the time we made it to the castle we are at level 110...

“I thought we already reached our max level once we hit 100” said Blood.

“Apparently not...” I said.

“But shall we stop?”

“Okay.”

He saved our game and turned off his PS2, turning off the TV.

Jet and Ariel were looking at each other “Hey Ariel shall we go hang out at the botanist tomorrow?”

“Sure” I noted her cheeks look a little pink.

In fact so is Jet’s, could they have a crush with each other?

They left Blood and me alone in his room.

Blood looked at me “What’s the matter Kleude, you look a bit spaced out.”

“Blood did you see my brother and Ariel’s face?’

“Yeah they look very happy.”

“...” my eyes narrowed.

“Do you think they could be dating?”

I nodded.

He sigh, stretching his arms “Gees I wonder how it feels like to be truly in love...”

“If my brother is truly in love.”

“How do you feel about that?”

“If they really do love each other” I attempted a smile “I’ll support them no matter what!”

“Do you think you might find someone who loves you?”

I stopped glancing at him, he suddenly broke contact with me “What about you?”

“Hmmm... I don’t really know if there’s anyone I really like yet, I love all my friends but they are just friends to me.”

“So you haven’t tried dating yet?”

“Nope.”

I sigh getting out of his bedroom to meet up with my brother and Ariel by the entrance.

They were talking about something and their faces are dangerously close and their eyes shut...

I realize what they are doing but I tried to keep quiet so as to not ruin their moment.

They really do like each other I realize...

When they broke they saw me and turned red all over.

I waved to them “Congratulations you two.”

“O-oh thank you big brother...” said Jet.

“I hope you two have a long happy relationship.”

As Jet and I walked back home I saw Red walking by with another girl holding his arm, I can smell what’s he going to do and I don’t like it.


	32. Chapter 32

3/6/2008

Everyone in class is in a line as the drama teacher announced that we will practice for a play based on the popular book ‘The castle of love’ and she will announce who will practice as who for four months before we start the play.

“The person who will play as the dark mysterious hero Kozu is Red Leiner.”

Red huffed as the girls began to cheer. Who is going to be Miriam the heroine? I know from descriptions and the cover she has light skin a petite body and light red hair in a bob.

There are a few girls that fit quite well...

“Miss Kleude Fleming can be Miriam” my heart skipped a beat, wait did she just say I play as Miriam?

“Mrs Fleming I think you made a mistake” I said.

“What is it Miss Kleude?”

“I’m not a girl and I’m sure that-“

“I don’t care what gender you are, you fit the role as Miriam quite well.”

“B-b-but...”

“No butts young man, you will practise as Miriam.”

My ears fell, Red is gonna kill me!

I glanced at Red and Eku, Red was hissing while Eku poked his ribs “Gees sucks to be you” she said.

“Urg I have to hang out with that stupid slut...”

Eku shook her head “That slut of a cat must be soooooo happy...”

I whined as Eku laughed while the teacher assigns the rest of the roles.

“All of you will have scripts of your roles to practice at home, I hope the play will be a success” she said.

I groaned taking my script, okay I hope I can do a good job even though Red is the hero and I have to practically ‘fall in love with him’ and kiss him, there goes my first kiss... if he doesn’t push me aside anyway which I hope he does.

Everyone was gossiping about my role during lunch.

“Oh my goodness pretty faggy kitty is gonna be Miriam!” Leslie squeaked.

“Yeah what a weirdo so pretty and gay he gets to be the heroine” said Taro.

The girls began to blow raspberries.

“What a spot to be in goldie” said Moton.

“Don’t remind me of it...” I groaned.

Moton frowned reading his text books, first thing I need to do is practice for one hour for the next four months, I should get Jet to help me.

Back at home I handed the script to Jet “Jet can you read my lines to make sure I don’t mess up?”

He looked at the script “Huh Princess Miriam?”

“Long story short, the teacher said I fit the part.”

“Oh...”

“Just make sure to correct me if I make a mistake.”

“Shouldn’t you fit into something appropriate for the role I mean she usually wears a long dress and it’s different from pants far as I know.”

I bit my lip heading to Mom’s room.

“Good evening” said Mom.

“Mom can I borrow some of your dresses?” I asked.

“Why?”

“I need to practice for a stage play and I have to play as the heroine of a work...”

“Okay... pick whatever you want.”

I head into the closet to look at Mom’s clothes, she has a lot of long skirts... I took a white shirt with a little blue ribbon, a blue skirt and blue shoes.

I stripped off my everyday clothes except for my boxers and tried the clothes, they are surprisingly comfy, I could get used to these clothes.

I headed out of the closet putting my normal clothes to my bedroom to rehearse.

Jet let out a snort “Big brother Kleude has turned into big sister Kleudette.”

“Did big brother really turn into a girl?” Sarah asked, she looked at me “Big sister you look so pretty!”

I posed myself in a coy pose as she cheered that she always wanted a big sister.

“But anyway the script...” I said.

“Oh right!” he took the script for me to correct me.

I pretended to be sad leaning on the cough going on about how boring my life is and I would like some excitement.

“You should be sighing” said Jet.

“Whoops!”

I tried again as he corrected me, when he was correcting me for a missed line when someone knocked on our door, Jet got the door for us.

“Hey there!” said Blood.

“Hi” said Ariel.

“Hello you two” said Jet.

“Hey why is Kleude in a dress?” Blood cocked his head.

“Ah he’s playing as the heroine in a stage play for school.”

“Cool!”

I sniffed patting my skirt off some dust “You are not playing as the heroine who is going to be the love interest of the guy who sleeps with a lot girls.”

“Awww you don’t like it?”

I kept silent, I kinda like this dress but to be playing as a heroine with Red as the hero not so much...

Jet coughed and prompted me to continue.

I did for another twenty minutes before we stopped for the day.

“Are you gonna change now?” Jet asked.

“Yeah or Sarah will really think I got a gender change” I walked to our bedroom to change back taking the dress back to Mom’s room.

“Aw big sister has become big brother again” Sarah whined.

“Don’t worry he’ll be sister again tomorrow” Jet patted her head.

Sarah’s perked up “Ooooh can I play with her tomorrow then?”

Jet sighed ruffling her hair.

Blood grinned at me “I hope you’ll do your best in whatever you are gonna do in four months.”

“Don’t remind me...” I twisted a strand of hair “Do I really make such a pretty girl?

“You do look rather pretty” said Ariel “Then again you always look more like a girl.”

I groaned pulling out a strand, rubbing it between my fingers so yellow... such an ugly colour.

“But it doesn’t matter if you look a bit girlish, what matters is inside” said Blood.

I looked at him flipping my hair off my face, as we decided to just have our usual chatters and studying.


	33. Chapter 33

12/8/2007

I spent time trying to struggle with housework, homework and practicing for the play, I can remember the beginning pretty well but I need to brush up the point where Miriam meets with Kozu.

For the moment the gang are in Ariel’s house looking at computer games to play.

“Hey what’s this +18 game?” Blood asked.

We looked at the cover there were a lot of men and a girl on the center... The title is Kumi Fantasy.

“I don’t know, I was just looking for some stash of computer games and found this, I think it belongs to Mom but she doesn’t seem to notice I took it.”

“Hmm wonder what’s it like” said Blood.

Ariel shrugged putting the DVD into her computer to start it up.

“Another visual novel” I said.

“I still remember that weird violent one” said Jet.

Ariel began a new game, it begins with the girl, Sayaka’s life as she head to school with her best friend and they began to chat about girly stuff.

“Typical girls like Eku and Leslie” I said.

“I get this feeling something exciting will happen soon” said Blood “Most games gets exciting at this point.”

He turns out to be right when the girls got down and they got adducted by hideous looking men.

“Oh my gosh what’s going to happen to them?” Jet asked.

“They should stop them!” said Ariel.

After a few lines there were slashing effects and someone yelling the men to go away.

“What a pointy chin” I said.

“What narrow jaws” said Jet.

“He looks like a male model” said Blood.

“Yuck...”

The girls were taken to a house with the man holding both of them.

“If that were real life that man would be arrested for indecent behaviour” I said.

“Yeah that’s just creepy” Jet said.

We continued reading seeing six more men of various stereotypes, the cool leader that took the girls to the house Fuma, the person who snaps at you but secretly likes you Akai, the oh so nice guy who might not be so nice Jiro, the sadist Kuro, the uber shy boy Ren, a walking gay stereotype only straight Homi and a ladies man Sato.

“The only guy that doesn’t piss me off is the shy guy and the nice one and that last one might secretly be a jerk from some of those other novels you played” I said.

“Yeah some of the others are creepy especially the one with purple hair and a whip” said Blood.

Ariel looked at her mouse “Maybe I’ll try the shy boy, he seems nice.”

And we continued trying to be nice to Ren and utterly despicable to the others just in case.

We continued until finally we got a long long focus with only Ren as they hung out with each other, though I have to wonder what happened to the Sayaka’s friend she suddenly just vanished.

Suddenly they are in the bathroom together.

“Hey want to scrub my back?” Ren asked.

He handed the towel to Sayaka as she scrubbed his back.

“Wow I didn’t know total strangers bathe with each other” said Blood.

“Yeah...” the rest of us said.

There were a few more sentence about Ren’s pale back before there was a CG with Ren smiling and a view of his body.

“Wow I didn’t think he worked out to get these washboard abs” I said.

“Yeah he looks so nerdy with his clothes on” said Jet.

“I want those abs...” said Blood “Actually those arms looks nice as well...”

“Shut up about wanting to be muscular” said Jet.

“Gees Jet...”

The couples kissed each other on the lips according to the narrative.

And there was a picture of Ren taking off Sayaka’s towel showing her little chest and her skinny body...

I shrieked covering my eyes with my hands.

“What’s the matter Kleude?” Ariel asked.

“She’s naked...” I said.

“Why is he taking off her towel?” Blood asked.

“Hm I dunno” said Jet.

My hands trembled I got an idea what is going on but how do I tell them about it?

“Whoa he took off his towel too” said Jet.

“What a large dick” said Blood.

“What’s a dick?”

“Whatever you, Kleude and I have under our pants at least that’s what Mom said.”

“Oh my so that’s why there are separate bathrooms for boys and girls” said Ariel.

I can feel the fur on my ears and tail stiffen it’s definitely going to be something dirty!

“She’s licking his dick or cock or whatever the narrative said!” said Jet.

“Oh my god he’s putting his cock into her!” Ariel yelled.

I trembled screaming on top of my lungs running far far away from the computer.

“Hey what’s wrong with Kleude?” Blood asked.

“He always seems averse to kissing but I don’t know” said Jet.

“I wonder why is he so frightened?”

“Hmm...”

After a while I felt a tap on my shoulders “Big brother?”

I removed my hands from my face and glanced past my shoulder.

“What’s the matter? Why did you suddenly panic when they suddenly had err err...”

“Sex” I said.

“How do you know that word?”

I looked away “School” I lied.

“What’s so disgusting about it brother?”

“It’s just disgusting yuck those two people taking off their clothes a-and doing it, it’s just so gross!”

“But you were pretty put off by kissing as well” said Ariel.

“...”

“You seem pretty disgusted by anything that seems romantic or whatever couples do.”

“I just don’t like it okay? I think they are weird.”

They looked at me as I slumped down, gees they will think I’m weird or something...

Blood approached me putting his hands on my shoulder “It’s okay if you find it weird.”

I sigh looking up at him “Thank you for understanding Blood.”

“If you find it weird we won’t judge you at all.”

I bit my bottom lip, I don’t want to be ‘weird’ as what Eku and Taro said at times.

They played the game for a few minutes before they saved it and shut off the PC.

Back at home I decided to read ‘Castle of love’.

The book is pretty interesting, Miriam is a very good character, sweet, strong, confident, someone I look up to as a good role model.

Kozu is very much a typical cool mysterious man that is common in RPGs though.

I shut the book and put it back on the shelf, I decided to check up on Mom to see how she is.

She’s sleeping on her bed and doesn’t seem to notice the light from the hallway, she’s getting tired out a lot lately and nothing seems to ever wake her up some nights.

I sigh shutting the door and heading back to bed to sleep, it’s getting pretty hard to struggle between housework and homework especially with the play to practice now. I hope time will go by quickly so we can manage our time properly again.

And frankly I just want to get past that Red and his rages about me trying to spread HIVS to him or something, Red why would I let you touch me? I don’t like you and how you treat those poor girls telling your sex life to the public and going with so many of them.


	34. Chapter 34

14/9/2007

Just one more month before the play! Mom is supporting me and Jet is still correcting lines, I only have a few more lines to perfect near the end, I can remember everything else pretty well.

I have to wear a summer dress pretending to be on a sunny beach talking to Kozu about everything that happened and prepare for one more kiss to end the play.

“Your feet placement is a bit off” said Jet.

“Oh sorry!” I shifted my feet a bit.

As I was doing a coy pose I saw Blood and Ariel heading to my house, I screamed and ran to my bedroom locking the door.

I can hear their voices muffled from the door, please Blood don’t see me in the dress!

There a rap on the door “Hey Kleude what’s the matter? The others are here” it’s my brother.

“I don’t feel so good” I lied.

“But you still have lines to practice.”

“Maybe later?”

“Okay if that’s what you say...”

I sigh changing back into my usual clothes, why am I suddenly panicking now? I didn’t mind if Blood saw me in Mom’s clothes during practice, why do I mind now?

I headed out, Blood let out a childish pout “Aww you are not gonna perform in front of us?”

“N-no!” I said.

“So what shall we do now?”

“How about some studying?”

“Sounds good to me.”

And so we studied instead even though Sarah asked me to be big sister Kleudette again.

I think my heart was beating faster when Blood took one of his pencils near my elbow since his current one snapped.

I just assumed I’m just getting rather overexcited and ignored it.

I continued reciting my lines after they left for one hour since we stopped prematurely earlier before dinner.

2/10/2008

Just one more day until the play starts, I looked at the script, I got everything memorized already, I will rest for today so I can be well prepared tomorrow.

I ran my fingers through my hair, okay Kleude gotta calm down tomorrow, no overreacting even though Red is the hero...

Still all tall dark super stoic hero with long black hair and long slim cold fingers how cliché. My ideal person would be emotional, open, have thick brown hair and large warm comforting hands-

I clamped my mouth that sounds exactly like Blood... Why does my heart feels so light thinking about him? That cute smile, his spikey brown hair, those large eyes, his free energetic ways...

I gripped at my shirt, could this feeling be love? I never felt in love before but this is different from how I felt for the others for years.

I turned my head when I heard Mom yawning.

“Ahhh... I had a long rest”

“Mom you look tired” I said.

“It’s okay dear, I’m just going to get some coffee.”

“I’ll get some coffee for you, just rest” I pushed her gently on a nearby chair to get some coffee.

After I got some a cup of instant coffee for her she slowly sipped her drink, settling the cup on a table “Ah I feel a bit better...” she smiled at me, ruffling my hair “You are so big now I bet you might get a lot of girls in a few years.”

Not likely, I thought.

“What’s wrong dear?”

“It’s nothing Mom.”

“Your ears are twitching...” she raised her hand to one of my ears, I bend myself so she could reach it, she looks so fragile only 4.10 ft and so slim yet she has very large breasts. Would Sarah would have large breasts when she gets older? She looks more like Dad but she is slim like Mom, Jet and I... I feel sorry for her if she does.

“Mom...”

“Are you thinking about something? Your face looks flushed.”

I turned away, should I tell her about the light feeling I had earlier? My ears are twitching again thinking about this...

“Are you in love?”

Of course Mom knows this kind of feeling before, I should have known!

“Dear are you in love with someone?”

“There’s this light feeling I have on my heart I don’t know what it is Mom when I think about this certain someone my heart feels light and I-“

“You are in love, I understand that feeling when I’m around with your Dad.”

“M-mom...”

“Do you know her Kleude?”

“Yes I known her for years.”

“That’s good, you should tell her how you feel.”

“B-but she’s a human and I’m a cat besides she’s too young...”

“It doesn’t matter what you are” she got putting me around her arms “Tell her and if she loves you back, go for it.”

Yeah because she is not a she...

“It’s okay dear even if you are not fully human your race shouldn’t matter, love between a full human can still develop, just wait a little and see how it goes.”

I sigh headed pulling away from Mom walking to my bedroom, can it really grow this feeling I have for Blood? I don’t know if I’m ready for a relationship like this. It just seems so soon and so sudden.

Jet and Sarah are already on their beds sleeping, I got changed into my pajamas as well to head for bed.

I stopped when I heard a soft creak “Kleude?”

I turned my head, Jet has woken up, rubbing his eyes.

“Big brother what’s going on?”

“It’s nothing special, just head to bed, I’m going to bed soon.”

“...” he wrapped himself in the blanket again.

I changed into my sleeping clothes before heading to bed as well.

I tried to empty my mind off everything for the night, gripping on my pillow.

3/10/2008

I felt refreshed, stretching my arms, getting dressed and meeting up with everyone else for breakfast.

Mom is in the kitchen preparing something, isn’t she supposed to be rest?

“Hey Mom what are you doing?” I asked.

“Ah Kleude, I’m just making meat loaf for all of you and maybe even your father when he returns home!”

“Oh...”

“It’s wonderful to cook really, even if I feel all tired out to cook for everyone...”

I sat on the table with Jet and Sarah to eat some cornflakes with milk before Jet and I headed for school, it’s pretty usual for him but I have a play to perform with my class, I looked at the script one more time, I practiced everyday and I hope I can do my best.

Although knowing Red he will take it very very badly...

Jet told me to do my best before he headed for class, I waved to him before heading for the drama class, we have one hour before the play!

I was getting dressed in a very long white dress with white opera gloves, a little silver tiara(made out of foil), white high heeled slippers, white stockings and a ribbon on the side of my hair(but no earrings, I don’t have pierced ears and I don’t plan on piercing them I like my ears as they are, they would be pretty difficult to see under my fur and it’d be hard to find a decent size made for cat ears without looking like thrash anyway) when Eku, Taro and Red appeared by the doorway.

“Oh that whore of a cat gets to be the heroine Miriam” said Eku “What a pity, he is waaaay too dirty to play as such a virginal wholesome pure girl.”

“Yeah” said Taro “Disgusting.”

“Oh my what will Miriam say if she knew, to have her clean wholesome virgin power deflowered by a skank who is going around filling holes or getting his hole filled!”

“Yeah he’s such a filthy freak he must have been doing that instead of practicing for the play!”

“I haven’t been sleeping with men!” I yelled.

Eku gasped “Oh my gosh he’s such a prude!”

“Like a prune” said Taro.

“Prude virgin prude yuck!”

I collapsed on the floor as they laughed and made virgin jokes at me, they never seem to run out of ideas on how to make fun of me.

“Hey guys I’m here!” my ears raised up as Leslie arrived holding a machete, just how is such a skinny girl able to hold these heavy weapons I’ll never know.

“Hey there Leslie” Eku got up to give her a smack on the back.

“Do you think this will make a good surgeon tool for my nurse?”

“It’s a bit big...”

“Aw but I bet it will be a great tool to dissect the patients and operate on them!”

“I guess so but...”

“Why can’t I use it?” Leslie’s eyes became watery looking at Eku.

“Well the drama teacher might say no” I said.

“Shut up prude!” Eku screamed.

“Oh my gosh is pretty kitty really a virgin after all?” Leslie gasped.

“Yeah, such a horrible thing to not be able to experience sex.”

“Oh my!”

“And what’s wrong with that? I am not gonna be the school player like Red is” I said.

Red suddenly got out of his seat “Are you going to do something to me?”

“No!”

“Yes you are, all of you gay people want to touch every man you see!”

“Oh gees that’s horrible Red” said Eku.

Red suddenly whispered something on her ears.

“Oh Red I want to wait til my sixteenth birthday! I bet it will be fabulous then!”

Red sigh moving away from her.

I looked at the girls around the hall, I have to wonder how many fallen for Red since a fair number of them were looking at him.

One girl is holding her (very large) stomach in pain.

“Oh what’s wrong Feena?” a girl with scaly skin asked.

“My stomach hurts...” said Feena.

“Should you tell the teacher to let you off the play?”

“No! I want to take part with the rest of you-” she suddenly gagged, the other girls panicking and trying to comfort her, getting a bag for her to throw up.

Did she eat a lot or something I wonder, but it’s only her stomach that’s fat. Then a thought pang into my head, didn’t the school once had a lesson about how babies are reproduced, babies come out of the female’s side.

Could she be carrying a baby?

The girl got up and rushed to Red, there were about five other girls rushing to him as well shoving and pushing each other to get to him.

“Wow are all of you going to confess your true love to him?” I said.

They suddenly cast a glare at me “Shut up we won’t let you touch him you filthy homo!”

I kept quiet as all of them tried to tell something to him arguing until they become impossible to understand.

“Wow what’s with all the girls?” Eku asked.

“Don’t bother with them they are all just hysterical” said Red.

He just moved himself as all of the girls stopped and collapsed on the ground.

Eku just shrugged following Red, Leslie ignored the girls as well walking with her machete digging into the floor making a long crack.

Moton glanced for a moment before continuing his studies, this guy seems to not care about a thing whatsoever.

Except studying.

I looked at the girls as they began to howl and cry, just what happened to them? I know the ones with the protruding tummies are pregnant but what about the others?

The rest of the girls cast an iron glare at me and I turned away at once, do not want to deal with some angry girls...

There’s ten minutes before the play, I noticed Taro is sweet talking to another girl with Elesa trying to get his attention.

Feena suddenly rushed to Elesa “Oh Elesa this is horrible I’m pregnant and Red doesn’t know!”

“Oh that’s bad news Feena!”

“I want to tell him, maybe he’ll understand if he does!”

“We’ll tell him after the play, I’ll help you.”

The girls smiled at each other, I cocked my head, tell him and get him to understand? Has this happened before?

When it’s time for the play, I stepped out of the dressing room, okay Kleude it’s time for the play!

I felt nervous after all the commotion but I told myself to be confident and do my best!


	35. Chapter 35

Everyone is looking at me rather suspiciously, I began to break into sweats and tugged at the collar of my dress, why do I feel so hot when I’m in a room with good ventilation?

The teacher began to narrate the opening on a crudely done background and it starts with Red dressed in a billowing open jacket with no shirt underneath revealing his chiselled body.

The girls are drooling over him but alas for them I’m next in a bedroom preparing for a meeting combing my hair and looking at myself.

What do I say again? My mind is drawing a blank, I can’t remember what I said and I practiced everyday(except for yesterday).

All I can think is what Eku, Moton and Red said to me earlier!

“Say something Miss Fleming” said the teacher, her voice is eerily cold...

I took a deep breath and said “Why am I so lonely? Everyone hates me!”

“Wrong!”

Dang I screwed up, this is not looking good.

I sigh “I feel so restrained in this place if only I can find freedom...”

She still looks rather pissed off but she doesn’t say anything so I hope it’s good enough...

Then the guards called me for the meeting and I got up but I shook and ended up knocking down the chair, I heard a cough and rearranged the chair.

There was a loud banging sound, I turned to see someone on my window, Red is scowling at me.

“Hello faggy Princess” he said.

“Now Red no names” said the teacher.

Red ignored her still scowling at me “Oh hello” I said.

Red just slapped me and walked away, I rubbed my face frowning and walked away to attend to the meeting.

I didn’t have to say anything during then luckily but when it pans to midnight with Miriam on the bed...

What was going to happen to her again?

All of a sudden I felt the blanket being pulled off and he was glaring at me holding the blanket.

“Ow what was that for!?” I yelled, I saw Red in front of me.

“You will come with me you faggot because I have to take you to my secret hideout got it?”

“No!” I screamed snatching the blanket.

He pulled the blanket roughly tearing it and grabbing one of my wrists “You found out about me, you will not let my secret out!”

“That is very... authentic...” said the teacher.

There were some girls making some remarks as Red dragged me away from the bedroom and into a cave.

He walked off letting a sigh of relief to get something for me to eat.

I just stared in front of me, that hurts, that really hurts...

What am I suppose to do again now? My memory is getting hazy about the script...

I felt my left wrist, his grip was really tight leaving a reddish mark on that area, it doesn’t help I’m pale so it shows up even more.

But I’m sure I’m not supposed to do nothing at this moment, but what was it?

There’s a cupboard and a bed in the stage though...

I looked at the cupboard, maybe I have to look at it, but it’s just an ordinary cupboard...

Then Red returned without a shirt revealing all of his well muscled body in all its glory, I went red, he’s slender yet he has well tone muscles everywhere. I would die to get such tight abs and pec! It makes me jealous that I don’t have much muscles.

“Quit staring at me faggot, you are sick!”

“Now now Red calm down I-“

He suddenly hissed at me “Go away from this stage you dick!”

“But I’m-“

“I don’t care you are a guy get out!”

I looked about helplessly, no one is going to help me against Red at all!

Still the teacher just sighed, I guess we still have to play.

I looked at Red, what am I suppose to say to him? Saying he’s attractive could set him on fire yet I get this feeling that’s what I’m supposed to say...

“Y-you look nice Kozu...” I said softly looking away.

Sure enough when I glanced back he was practically gnashing his teeth and storming off, why was I picked for this play? It should have been one of the other girls.

I felt my heart flutter when I thought of Blood instead, he wouldn’t be mean like Red or Kozu he would be nice instead!

I clutched my shirt, why did I have to fall for boys and not girls anyway? This isn’t right, I’m ruining Mom’s dream to have grandkids from her eldest child. If only I was a girl instead then all of this would never happen!

I tried to figure what happen after this, is Miriam suppose to stay here or is she suppose to run away?

If I were her what would I do? Kleude get your head cleared, you need to think!

Oh maybe I’m supposed to figure out how to run away? If I were in a room with this shady guy who just pulled me away from my bed and took me to a dark cave that’s what I would have done.

I looked about the place, just how am I suppose to get out anyway in this shoddily done cave? Am I suppose to just walk out of the stage?

I walked out and got a “Cut!” from the teacher so I have to step back in.

I looked at the black stage, is there suppose to be a room over there?

The stage suddenly scrolled and Red reappears musing about something while I’m just standing there listening to him.

“That princess she’s so beautiful...” he said.

What’s he on about Miriam? I get this feeling I should stay.

“Her red hair in a neat bob, those large blue eyes that seems to be staring into my soul and her pale skin that looks so smooth...”

“Don’t just stand there at least gasp a little” the teacher hissed.

I made a loud gasp to please her.

“Yet she’s played by a man...”

Wow Red still can’t get over the fact that he is anything but straight...

“I have to keep this secret from her... I was going to steal from her castle for money. M-my team doesn’t have enough money to survive and we need the money to hunt and...” he stopped.

I scratch my cheek, okay what’s next? Oh yeah I think she’s suppose to walk back to the bedroom and run away from Kozu.

Sure enough the stage is panning back to previous board, I think I am supposed to get away from him, but how do I do that again?

There was Red still sitting on a corner... Ohh I get it, I’m supposed to sneak away from him.

I tried to walk as quietly as I can to the other side of the stage while he’s still musing.

Suddenly he got up “Trying to sneak away huh?”

I screamed as he approached me, I tried to run but it’s very difficult with high heels and he grabbed my left wrist in a painful grip like before.

I screamed even louder stamping on his foot, I’m sure he broke my wrist!

He gnashed his teeth grabbing my right wrist.

There’s only one thing I can think off to get away from his grip, I raised one of my leg to strike him on his crotch.

He bit his bottom lip, loosening his grip and let out a surprisingly high pitched squeal and kneeled over, I ran off to the other side, rubbing my left wrist, it hurts to even touch it now! And I’m still at the beginning of this play! My right one also aches like crazy as well, hopefully I can still pick up things with my right hand...

Still during the play Miriam wandered around the city in a ragged dress where no one recognise her and she got new clothes to pass off as a commoner in a store and ended up working as a shopkeeper assistant but also somehow getting caught in a war and learning how to fight to defend the city when she got attacked by an evil overlord.

Suddenly Red reappeared to stop Taro from hurting me “Run at once Miriam!” he yelled hissing through his teeth.

“But Kozu!” I yelled.

“I rather die than be with a man in drags!”

“Now now Red stay in character” said the teacher.

“Shut up hag.”

Her glasses slipped a little as he defended me and stayed behind wondering whether to stay or to run away.

Suddenly Taro took the top off his club to reveal it’s a wooden sword and stabbed Red on his armpit.

Red let out a blood curdling scream and collapsed.

“Kozu!” I screamed rushing to him.

“Run away right now Miriam, leave me behind I don’t want to die with a man defiling me” I swore he made up that last part.

“No Kozu I-I” I stopped thinking what am I suppose to say again, I just dragged him away from Taro and to the medical station.

The nurses tended to his wounds and I sat back in my camp, my mind is still so hazy on what I’m supposed to do this whole time, I’m just trying to do what I think is appropriate for the moment but Red’s fits is making this harder and harder...

Still the play hasn’t been completely ruined yet so I have to do my best.

After some more scenes when Kozu recovers and Miriam is glad and wants them to team up and we explore...

A dragon appeared dancing in front of us.

“Roar intruders I’m gonna destroy you both!” Leslie screamed.

We braced to stop Leslie when all of a sudden I stumbled and Leslie was about to attack me when Red shielded me(although he also pushed me very roughly) and collapsed on the floor.

“Kozu!” I screamed.

He just laid on the floor without a comment all of a sudden I just stayed perfectly still, I can’t move my body and when I open my mouth I can’t even say a word.

“Say something now, this is the best part” said the teacher.

I tried but I still can’t find my voice, I suddenly remembered this is the point Miriam confessed her love for Kozu and gives him a kiss on the lips!

Red is going to be so pissed off! I shut my eyes tightly, do I really have to kiss him?

“Say something!” the teacher yelled.

Okay I should pretend it’s not Red I’m kissing, it’s Kozu!

I kneeled to the ground and lowered my head mumbling “Blood...” my eyes snapped open and covered my mouth did I just seriously say Blood!?

Suddenly Red opened his eyes got up and pushed me on the floor “What did you just say faggot!?”

“I-I just messed up...”

“You want to suck on me and get my blood don’t you? I’ll show you, you freak!”

“Cut!” the teacher screamed “That’s enough you two, you’ll both see me after this!” she stormed off the room.

“Aww I was enjoying watching this” said Eku.

“What you want me to see me get raped by a guy!?” Red hissed at her.

“Of course not, but I’m sure if you do show him who’s boss...”

I grumbled heading back to the changing room to change back into my normal clothes, I think I have enough dresses for one day.

And I have to go face the drama teacher’s wrath with Red and knowing Red...

When everyone else left she called to Red and me.

“What is wrong with you two today?” she asked “Miss Fleming is forgetting lines and what to do and Mr Leiner is frequently breaking the script.”

“I’m sorry but I feel so nervous...” I said.

“It’s his fault, he should never play as Miriam” said Red.

“But I think he fits her quite well” said the teacher.

“I don’t care you asked a guy with a blatantly guy voice to play as Miriam, men should never play as girls.”

I didn’t say a thing at all as the teacher just stared at us.

“He’s wrong to even accept that role, he should be ashamed of himself. What kind of man would defile himself playing as a girl? He’s not normal at all!”

I collapsed as he stormed out of the room, the teacher didn’t say anything leaving the room as well.

I put my hands over my face when I was completely alone, is Red right? Is something wrong with me? But I don’t care how I am, I don’t want to be like him or Moton or Taro or anyone else! Is that wrong?

After school I meet up with Jet.

“Hey how’s the play?” he noticed my face and didn’t ask me anything as we headed back home.

Mom smiled when she saw us heating up some meatloaf in the microwave and getting apple juice for us.

“So how was the play?” Mom asked me.

“...”

“It didn’t go too well?”

“It was a disaster...”I grabbed the glass of juice and chugged it down.

Mom and Jet didn’t say anything and Jet even told Sarah to keep quiet.

I ate the meatloaf since I didn’t eat since breakfast but I can barely taste the meatloaf.

After finishing I head to my bedroom to lie on the bed.

So much going on in one day and all I can fell right now is an aching head and painful wrists.

I just want to sleep for the rest of the day and even more of tomorrow...

“Brother?” I didn’t lift my head “I’m sorry about the play-“

“Will you not talk about that play?” I asked.

“Sorry but whatever happen-“

“Just give it a rest brother, I don’t want to think about what happened anymore!”

He didn’t say anything but there was a creak from the door, thank god...

Hours of lying on the bed suddenly there was a creak on the door.

“Hey want to go celebrate the full moon night with us tonight?” It was Jet.

“No.”

“But Ariel and Blood just arrived.”

“Go celebrate without them.”

“We are going to roast sweet potatoes outside by ourselves and I’m sure you want to try roasted sweet potatoes...”

“No thanks.”

“Blood would like you to enjoy yourself you know.”

I removed my head from the pillow, Blood...

We headed outside our house, Ariel has a bag of sweet potatoes and Blood is starting a bonfire.

“Hey hey you two!” Blood waved his hand.

“Whoa careful” said Ariel.

“It’s okay Ariel I know how to set a fire.”

Ariel sigh.

Blood grinned at us “Kleude you are gonna have a good time tonight! I’m sure you will love roasted potatoes, they taste wonderful roasted in an open fire. Ariel took an hour to clean all of them so they will be safe as well.”

“If either of you don’t like it I have corn to roast as well” said Ariel.

“And there’s gonna be fireworks as well!” he backed off when fire began to emit from the sticks he was using.

All of us took a potato and skewered it.

“You go first Kleude” said Ariel.

“Huh?”

“Your brother told us about what happened, you should relax now, it’s over.”

I sigh heating the potato, just how long do these roast? It’s hard to make out under that blazing red fire.

Blood is right next to me, watching the hot potato roasting, he wants to comfort me so much, I wonder if I should tell how I feel when we are alone but he might not be ready to know about this yet.

“Hey don’t you think you are leaving your potato in the bonfire for quite a while?” he asked me.

I pulled out the potato from the bonfire, I didn’t notice the burnt smell! Dang it’s charred black...

I sigh putting the potato on the bag.

It’s fun watching the others roast potatoes though getting out a lovely purplish brown colour.

I let out a light gasp when I felt a gentle poke on my elbow, Blood is holding a skewer of sweet potato in front of me “Here take this one.”

“Ah?” I took the skewer, I touched the potato with one finger, whoa it’s hot. I blew the potato and used my nails to peel it off, blowing it again before biting into it. It’s so sweet and delicious...

“You’re smiling” said Blood, I looked up at him and smiled again.

After we ate some few potatoes and corns there was a flash of light and explosions.

Blood got up running off “Fireworks!”

We followed him as he ran about to watch all the fireworks set off.

Suddenly Ariel and Jet stopped , looking at the fireworks, I followed Blood when he stopped in a spot.

We are rather far away from the others and there’s no one but us as we watch the fireworks, I like it there’s no one else to cramp up the place...

“They’re so beautiful...” I said.

“Yeah.”

I leaned grabbed one of his arm, they’re so warm and comforting...

“Kleude?”

“You are so warm...” I said.

“Okay so why are you holding my arm?”

“Oh sorry!” I let go of his arm turning my face away to hide my blush.

“Kleude?”

“It’s okay Blood I just got an impulse to hold your arm for a moment.”

There was a few second of silence when Blood suddenly let out a squeal, I turned back to see him looking at the sky, I looked up as well.

There was a grand firework exploding into rainbow coloured lights! I smiled clutching Blood’s arm again, I don’t want to let go of his arm I just want this warmness to take my mind away from all the bullies and forget that Mom might not ever be around one day.

“Hey you’re grabbing my arms again.”

I removed myself from his arms moving a few inches away “S-sorry Blood!”

“It’s okay, I like your arms around mine as well.”

I sigh petting his spikey hair.

“What exactly happen in the play to make you so upset? I mean there must be something else that made you upset, you are not going to be an actor are you?”

“No way.”

“So what was it, did something happen during the play?”

I nodded.

“Please tell me, don’t bottle up all your worries, I will understand, just spill it out!”

“I’m a freak!” I gripped his shoulders “They’re right I am not normal at all!”

“You are not a freak Kleude!” Blood gently pushed me a few inch away “You are just a normal person like everyone else!”

“B-but...”

“I’ll tell them I think of them being so horrible to you!”

“No don’t Blood!”

He clenched his fist “Why do they do all of this to you?”

“It all started when I was only seven, it seems normal at first but then during break I noticed everyone sits in a large group, I just wanted a small group or I will sit alone so I sat in a corner when Eku notices me on the corner and said it was weird I rather sit alone than join a large group...” I trembled as tears fell down my cheeks.

“And that’s how it started?”

“Mostly but Moton was understanding to me at first b-but-“ I gulped “He always wanted to get good grades but when he got a perfect score from studying very hard he decided to get the best he can and studied more and more often. We sometimes do projects together in school and I always bring him down no matter how hard I try to study and he felt I was a hamper to him...”

“So that’s how it all happened...”

“Blood you are so lucky, you can make lots of friends but even if you don’t I’m sure they are more understanding than everyone in my school!”

“Kleude...”

“They insisted that I will become normal and that I will see the errors of my way b-but I don’t want to be in a giant group or be like everyone else I-I just want a few friends...”

I gasped when I felt Blood’s arms around me “Nothing is wrong with you and they are wrong, you can’t just twist yourself to be like them!”

“B-Blood I don’t want everyone to call me worthless, a sick freak or hit me for looking at them I just want to be able to sleep without worrying what will happen to me tomorrow or fear that I will be rejected in anything I do when I grow up...”

“Don’t cry, your family, Ariel and I will always support you.”

“Thank you Blood...”

I pulled away from him wiping my tears away, that’s right I still have friends and a loving family.

But I wonder are there anyone in a situation like mine who don’t?


	36. Chapter 36

10/11/2008

Dad has returned home on a rainy day, he took a hot bath before tending to Mom.

There are only a few months before Sarah has to go to school, Jet and I took her out to see some other kids in a park to befriend.

She cheered at all the people walking about in the park trying to talk to everyone, the adults were going about how cute she is while the teens ignored her.

“Big brother” Sarah tugged at Jet’s shirt “Why are they ignoring me?”

“I think they just want to hang out with each other and don’t want other people around” said Jet.

“Oh...”

“Oh look there are other kids skating on the lake!”

Sarah piped up heading for the lake to meet with the other kids, Jet had to stop her.

“I wanna meet them!” she cried.

“Sarah running on ice is very dangerous you could slip and hurt yourself or fall into thin ice” said Jet.

Sarah just yelled she wanted to see the others, Jet sigh taking her to where the other kids are but making sure that she doesn’t go into the lake.

Some of the kids noticed her and approached her.

“Ooohhh she has cat ears!” said a girl with cyan hair.

“Oh my, she has two big sisters!” said a boy with a buck tooth.

“Hi I’m Sarah!” Sarah yelled, waving her hands in a way that reminds me of Princess Daisy.

“Oh my gosh she looks soooo weird with those ears and tail” said a girl with glasses.

“Yeah that is not normal!” said a tall lanky boy.

“We better go, I don’t trust some of these kids...” said Jet.

“What’s wrong with them?” Sarah asked.

“They might do something bad to you” I said.

“Huh?”

“Let’s go right now Sarah...”

“But I wanna be friends with them!”

“Aww she wants to be friend with us how cute!” said the girl with glasses.

Jet tried to keep Sarah away but she actually moved away from him to talk to the other kids.

We just watched as she approached the smiling kids, when the tall boy suddenly pushed her.

“Ow that hurts!” she cried.

“Aw the wittwe kitty is waiwing!” he said pulling her ears.

Sarah cried as he pulled as if he’s trying to yank it off her head “I’m gonna pull your ears out to wear for Halloween!”

“Think you can borrow it to me?” the girl with glasses asked.

“Sure!”

“Stop it, Mommy says there are people with ears like that!” the cyan haired girl cried.

The girl with glasses pushed the other girl as the tall boy yanked at her ears.

“Stop it!” I yelled, slapping the tall boy.

He fell on his bum and suddenly broke into tears “You are a mean lady waaah!”

“I’ll tell Momma what you did!” the girl with glasses yelled, helping the tall boy up and running away.

Sarah is still crying while we comforted her.

“It’s okay Sarah they’re gone now” said Jet.

“They are so mean to me!” Sarah cried.

“Well that’s what I face in over eight years...” I mumbled, soft enough so Sarah cannot really hear what I said, I patted her on the head “Cheer up, we’ll get you some hot cocoa and a chocolate banana.”

Sarah immediately stopped crying and hugged me, I sigh ruffling her pigtails.

We headed for a cafe to get some cocoa and chocolate banana for Sarah.

“So tasty!” she chirped biting into the banana.

“Oh you got a smudge on your face” said Jet.

Sarah giggled licking the chocolate sauce on the banana.

I sigh at them thinking about that moment, Sarah got picked on by two of those kids and I feel a bit worried for her, she has to go to school in a few months since Mom and Dad can’t home school her, if she’s going to face kids like those two bullies... I really don’t want her to suffer like how Jet and I did.

But maybe Dad might be concern for her, after all he dotes on her a lot, buying her things she wants even if it meant Jet and I are unable to get any pocket money for a few months, taking her out to nice places when he can and just hanging out with her. I don’t remember him doing that with Jet or me ever.

After Sarah finished her meal we got up to leave the cafe, but on the way out the door slammed open hitting Jet’s face.

“Ow watch it-“ he stopped, Elesa is in front of him...

The moment she noticed him she screamed and pushing him.

“What’s with her?” said Jet.

“I hate to know I hate to know...”

As the others leave the cafe I looked at Elesa, she seems so sad... Taro must have been dating with one of the other girls again.

I turn away and headed home with the others, this girl is none of my concern. If she wants to delude herself that Taro will settle down with her like how those girls do with Red let them.

Still all the same I’m sure they are going to be horribly broken in the end... Some of my female classmates are missing after appearing for a few months with huge bellies, I saw that some of those girls also hanging about with Red before, could he have gotten them pregnant and they kept their babies? He did brag that he never used a condom since they are only for spineless cowards who don’t want to enjoy the feeling of their penises touching a woman’s cavern and spilling themselves over her whatever that means.

I have to wonder what is going to happen to Elesa? Red always takes a chance to sweet talk any girl when they are at their most vulnerable.

After we headed back home to rest Ariel arrived at our house first before we head to Blood’s she looks rather upset...

“Hey what’s wrong Ariel?” Jet asked.

“...” she took a deep breath “It’s Mom...”

“Did something happen to her?” he grabbed Ariel’s shoulders.

She shook her head “She’s fine it’s just... Dad’s busy and I want to hang out with Mom but she left to go drinking in the local pub...”

“I’m sorry Ariel...”

She sigh putting her arms around him.

“Big brother Kleude are big brother Jet and Ariel hugging?” Sarah tugged at the waistband of my shirt.

“Err they like each other very much” I said.

“Really? Is Ariel going to be my big sister then?”

“No.”

“Awww...” she pouted throwing a childish tantrum.

I glanced at Jet and Ariel, could they really work out? Or will one or the other break up with time?

Still they seem like they really do love each other...

When Dad got out of Mom’s room Sarah hugged him and told him about the other kids she saw in the park crying all the way, we just walked out of our house.

We played Star Ocean Second story over at Blood’s house to beat Indalecio and finish the game.

“Yeah grand finale!” Blood yelled “We are gonna save Nede from these weirdos!”

“Hooray!” Jet cheered.

“Let’s have our number one favourites for this last battle.”

All of us nodded switching out our team to Claude, Precis, Rena and Ashton.

This Indalecio guy is pretty powerful, Rena has to sure cure light in a few minutes for Precis even though Claude and Ashton are still very healthy.

Still it’s pretty fun using those machineries of her to deal damage to the boss.

Indalecio went down surprisingly quick and there are more events with the Mayor saying he will revive Expel at the cost of Nede.

“What you’re gonna destroy your planet!?” Jet yelled.

“What will happen to everyone else in Nede?” I said.

“They are gonna go extinct...” said Ariel.

“Oh my gosh!” I gasped.

After a cutscene of Nede being destroyed, the next scene is Noel and Chisato in the Hereldry forest.

“Oh I feel so bad for them” said Ariel.

“They’re all alone with just each other” said Jet.

“Well there’s Rena” said Blood.

“Yeah but she’s not around” I said.

“Hmmm... I wonder would Noel and Chisato marry?”

“That would be nice for them” said Ariel.

“But how are their kids gonna survive as full Nedians?” I asked.

All of us stopped realizing what those kids might have to do...

The scene faded and revealed Leon in Lacour with some kids.

“Guess he’s solo after all” I said.

“Wonder where the other four are” said Ariel.

After the scene we see Ariel and Precis in Cross outside a cafe, Precis is looking at men.

“Wonder what kind of man would like someone like her other than Ashton” said Jet.

“Another barrel lover?” I said “Or maybe someone who wants to marry that giant pot on the open store?”

“Or maybe Dias or Said or whatever his name is” said Blood.

“Is that guy even alive? Or did he get killed by bandits while he’s away?”

“Poor Rena...” said Ariel.

The scene faded to Claude and Ashton in the cave we went to get the goblet to get Xine’s tear to exorcize the dragons.

“Oh come on again?” I said.

“Just why are they here again?” Jet asked.

After some lines with Claude telling Ashton to never give up the scene faded and the credits rolled.

“Is this going to go on for the rest of his life?” I asked.

“Poor Ashton...” Blood shook his head.

“Okay now that we are done what shall we do?” Ariel asked “Do you have an CD player?”

“Okay how about we watch something good on the living room? We got an old video player for CDs.”

“Great!” Ariel pulled some CDs of Journey to the sky out of her pocket.

“Cool how did you get the rest of the show?”

“I bought them on a flea market selling older anime.”

“Okay!” Blood marched out of his bedroom, we followed him into the living room to watch a few episodes of Journey to the sky until we have to go home.

The opening is really fluid with really energetic music I will admit.

Unfortunately Pooly’s annoying high pitched voice narrating a short version of the previous episode gets on my nerves.

Aquila and Pooly were being cheered on as they landed and they were inside Granger’s house to celebrate and Granger began to wonder about the robot and the demon.

Aquila has a strange flash on its eyes as well...

“That can’t be good” said Blood.

The scene pan to a half moon with a black sky then to Pooly and Aquila in a small bedroom sleeping.

Aquila’s eyes flashed again and it got up walking out of the house.

“Whoa what’s it doing?” Blood asked.

“Pooly woke up too” said Ariel.

Outside the house Aquila’s eyes flashed brighter and brighter when suddenly a soft feminine voice echoed “Okay I will do it...” the voice said.

Aquila made some beeping noises and its eyes blinked at the words.

“Oh my, what is that voice?” said Ariel.

“Hey what’s going on?” Pooly asked.

Aquila just turned its head to him without saying anything.

“Can’t you speak at all strange thing?”

“That voice...” it said.

“W-what!?” Pooly yelled.

“Gees after watching Sonic X and Samurai Jack this show looks awfully dark and there’s this weird texture on everything” said Blood.

“The Little Mermaid also looks quite dark next to Sheep in the Big city” said Ariel.

“Hmm I wonder if they got better lightings.”

We continued to watch the show, Pooly is telling Granger about how he heard Aquila talk about hearing a voice last night, his grandfather just sigh and shook his head.

Pooly stamped his foot and left his house to meet Aquila outside the house.

“Aquila you spoke about a voice last night didn’t you?” he yelled.

Aquila turned its head “Sorry...”

“Gees I wish I can impress Grampa for once!”

“...”

“Hey Aquila can you pick me up?”

The robot nodded picking him up.

“Yahoo I’m on top of the world again!” he smiled looking into the sky “It’s wonderful to be closer to the clouds!”

“Clouds...”

“Do you ever want to get close to the clouds?”

“...”

“I wonder how do we get to be so close we can touch the cloud and see the sun without hurting our eyes!”

“The voice...”

“Aquila?”

“Monsters!” the villagers screamed, Pooly frowned looking at the sky again.

There were specks of red heading to the village, they were demons ready to attack his village again.

“Let’s go Aquila!” he cried, the robot nodded as they approach the demons to stop them once again.

They managed to kill a lot of demons when a red core appeared overwhelming both of them and Pooly let out a blood curdling scream before the credits rolled.

“Whoa!” all of our mouth fell at the scene.

We watched five more episodes where Pooly is in another world filled with demons both good and bad as he tries to get out of the world with Aquila before we decided to stop.

“See you later Blood” said Ariel heading back to her house.

Jet is looking at Ariel with a slight blush on his face...

I waved goodbye to Blood before Jet and I headed for home.

On the way I saw Deanna that butterfly girl Red took his virginity with almost a year ago, she is holding a blanket with something on her arms and crying as she flutters by our path, I caught a glimpse of what was in that blanket, a little fair baby with a bit of black hair, she swore that she will tell Red about the baby tomorrow.

I scoffed at her, what a silly person thinking someone like him will actually pity her. He already scorned the other girls who told him about the babies he fathered and they cried to their other friends about what he did and nobody felt any sympathy so the girls were completely shattered.

I never heard what happened to them, I did see a few of them on the streets wearing next to nothing though...

I wonder about Jet and Ariel, Blood and I know they love each other even though they try not to be public about their affection but are they going to do ‘it’ like Red did when they get older? I mean they managed to play a few adult games Ariel had managed to get from her mother’s room already they at least let me read some books on her bookshelf instead while they play those games but would they do that once they are old enough?

I hate to think of them doing such a disgusting thing but it’s their decision and not mine.

When we returned home nobody is in the living room, they must have gone to bed I thought, Jet and I headed for our bedroom to sleep as well.

However Sarah is not in the bedroom as well.

We decided to check our parent’s bedroom, the door is not bolted. We can see Mom, Dad and Sarah sleeping in the double bed. Mom and Dad are cuddling Sarah who is in the middle.

We sigh and headed back to our bedroom to change and sleep.


	37. Chapter 37

11/11/2008

The next day Mom and Dad were talking to each other about Sarah, Jet and I waved goodbye to them, heading for school.

Well Jet went to school I chose to skip out at the meadow.

I thought about the one time I did ask him to follow me but he refused.

After school we met up and went back home.

Ariel’s dad is talking to Mom and Dad. Ariel is next to her father just sitting around listening to them.

“So you want my help so your daughter has a safe environment to study in when she goes to school?” said Mr Vermillion.

“Yes, we’ll do anything to make sure that she doesn’t grow up in a hostile environment” said Dad “She’s fragile and she might not be able to take it if there are people bullying her.”

“I understand...”

“But what about your boys Mr Fleming?” Ariel asked “They should change schools!”

“They are fine as they are missy” said Dad.

“No they are not, I can tell they are suffering, especially your eldest son!” Jet backed off at Ariel’s words.

“Jet?” I asked.

He didn’t say a word, there was nothing but silence for over a minute when Dad slammed the table suddenly “Listen girl don’t be a smartass, you are not part of our family, you don’t know my sons as well as I do. And I say that they will learn to tolerate all of those and become strong men!“

“But they’re not getting ‘stronger’-”

“They will in a few years time.”

“Ariel shut up” said Jet.

“B-but...”

“Just stop.”

Ariel’s eyes widened as she sat back on her chair and kept silent.

“I’m sorry about what my daughter just said” said Mr Vermillion.

“So are you going to help Sarah?” Mom asked “We are not sure if we can afford to get her to a good school without going into welfare.”

“Sure I’ll help her.”

“That’s great! But she has dyslexia...”

“It’s okay, a laptop is not a problem to buy, just tell the school about her issue, they’ll understand.”

“That’s wonderful!”

I glanced at Jet, he looks visibly rattled...

When we head for the bathroom he cried on my chest “What’s the matter?” I asked.

“Ariel’s right, I just want to go away from this school as well!”

“But why did you refuse to go with me then?”

“I fear that we will both be caught...”

“Oh...”

“And I’m sure that I would have shamed Dad if I ran away to hide but why do you do that big brother?”

“...I-I...”

“Don’t you care that Mom and Dad have to pay for us to even go to school? They could have just let us hang around the streets like beggars instead without any aim for the future!”

“Brother...”

“Have you ever thought about your future big brother?”

“Well maybe I could try as a comic book artist... sketching is pretty fun and so is reading.”

“...” he let go of me, wiping his tears off and getting himself undressed before sitting on the little chair, waiting for me to undress and scrub his back before he scrub mine before we step into the bathtub.

After our bath he left the house after dinner, I followed him but he raised a stop signal at me.

“I want to hang out with Ariel alone, can you stay at home or visit Blood instead?”

“Okay.”

He smiled at me and headed off to Ariel’s house.

Well now I’m all alone in front of the house, I am not sleepy yet so I’m not going to sleep now, but Dad’s home and Sarah loves hanging out with him alone so I can’t play with her.

So that just leaves me only one choice...

I headed to Blood’s house, for once Blood got the door instead of his mother.

“Hey there Kleude!” he cheered, he noticed I’m alone “Where’s Jet?”

“He went to see Ariel alone” I said.

“Oh.”

“So got any time to spend with bothersome ole me?”

“You’re not bothersome and okay, Mom is busy cleaning the bathroom though.”

We headed into his house and into his bedroom.

“So what shall we do today?” he asked me.

“Hmm” I looked at his room, should I read something or play on his PS2, N64 or Gamecube? I looked at his desk frowning, it sure is messy, much messier than the rest of his room, it’s overflowing with paper!

I grabbed some of the papers and looked at them “Hey Blood are these your homework?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

I wonder how he manages to be able to find his homework in all this pile of mess.

I accidentally knocked the table when putting his homework on a neat pile, opening a drawer.

I raised an eyebrow at what looks like some books inside the drawer, I turned to Blood, he’s grinning rather sheepishly... I took one of the book out.

“Gravitation Megamix?” I said.

“Ehehe... I bought that in a discount shop a few weeks ago.”

I looked through the books he stored, Okane Ga Nai, some fancomics of Kingdom Hearts...

I looked at the cover of one of those Kingdom Hearts fancomic “Sora and Riku as lovers?” I said.

“Err... I bought them out of curiosity...”

“Just what are these Blood?”

“Pretty dirty.”

My eyes widened, slamming all of the manga back into the drawer “Blood w-why are you buying all of these?”

“I wanted to know what do gay couples do...”

“Bloody?” I lifted a hand on his spikes.

“It’s pretty interesting actually...” I just stared at him “Kleude?”

“It’s nothing...” I turned away letting my hair cover my blush.

“You are hiding something.”

“I don’t want to say it now Blood...”

He just looked at me before shrugging his shoulders “So want to play something tonight?”

“Sure, what shall we play?”

“How about Mario Party 2?”

“Sure!”

After the opening where everyone is fighting over what to name their land and Bowser appears to take over, Mario Party 2 starts.

“Hmm what theme shall we play?” Blood asked “I think the pirate, cowboy and space land looks pretty cool.”

“I rather have that dark spooky land or outer space.”

“The space board it is!”

“Wow Toad actually sounds cute...”

Blood picked Donkey Kong, I picked Mario, now we have to pick the computer players.

“Hmm who do you want as the computer?” he asked me.

“Not Princess Peach!”

Blood picked Luigi and Wario and set them both to medium with 25 turns.

“Let’s go!” we yelled.

We have to start with the ever familiar who goes first by dice roll.

“Seven!” Blood yelled.

“Four” I said.

“Whoa Wario got a nine!”

“And I’m last...”

It went on with nothing special at first but after Wario, Donkey Kong and Luigi have to pay five coins to the bank I landed on the bank and got fifteen coins!

“Whoa you are at an advantage early” Blood said.

Unfortunately the next space Wario landed was a battle space and we have to pay up ten coins.

“No not Day at the races!” Blood screamed.

Luigi went first, he picked a Boo, Blood is next.

“I’ll take the Thwomp” he said.

Wario picked the Whomp so I’m left with a Bob-omb.

“Okay do your best Thwomp!” Blood yelled.

For the most part the Bob-omb was at an advantage when it suddenly tripped “No!” I yelled as the others except the Thwomp caught up.

Suddenly the Thwomp got ahead and won the race with the Boo second, Whomp third and my Bob-omb dead last.

“Urg there goes ten of my coins...” I said.

Many rounds later...

“Huh Luigi will win?” said Blood.

“Well that’s Mama Luigi for you” I said in a low nasally voice.

Somehow during Wario’s turn he landed on the same spot as Blood.

“Ooo duelling game” said Blood, gripping his controller “You will go down fatty!”

Wario betted ten coins and we find out what minigame it is.

“Oh no not timing!”

Wario won and Donkey Kong groaned in unhappiness.

“Urg I was saving up to get a mushroom after I get a star” he groaned.

When my turn passed after I bought duelling gloves I went to the same space as Donkey Kong as well.

“No not another duel!” Blood yelled “I was gonna save up for the star!”

I sigh picking to go for only five coins.

“Oh thank you.”

I managed to beat him and get five measly coins.

On the final turn Luigi landed on a battle space where all of us has to pay 30 coins, Donkey Kong has less than that however.

“No Bowser’s big blast!” Blood yelled.

“Another luck game?” I said.

There were five pumps to pick... Wario is the first to go.

“Doh I missed” he said as the time counts down.

“Doh you missed Wario” we both said as it explodes and he goes “Uwaaah!”

For the next turn however nobody got the bomb detonated so we have another set of pumps to pick.

“No!” Blood screamed as the bomb exploded on DK.

“Aww only the brothers are left” I said.

However the very plunger I picked detonated the bomb and left only Luigi behind.

The coins are distributed but Goomba gave a coin to Wario.

Wario is getting rich I noticed... he could gain that coin lead. I used the duelling glove.

“Kleude what are you doing?” he asked.

I picked Wario and bet all of my money.

“What!? What if he gets even richer!?”

“Well it’s double or nothing” I said.

I mentally prepared myself before starting the duel.

I won! I got most of Wario’s coins and he goes “Doh I missed.”

I landed on a red space so I have to go against everyone else though, the penguin game is picked so I lost.

Bonuses are handed out after this.

I won game and coin, Blood won happening.

“Whoa I actually got a bonus!” he said.

We watched a cutscene where Mario tries to stop Bowser and resorted to running in circles to make Bowser dizzy before shooting him.

Toad cheered for Mario and the other three appeared behind him while Mario claims he got the victory.

“You’re first...” said Blood “Whoa I’m second! Wario is third, Luigi is last.”

We ended the game and waited while our coins and star gets collected for the bank.

We shut off the N64 and sigh.

“Well that’s fun” said Blood.

I looked at him, he’s sweating a little making his skin glisten, I quickly looked away before he could notice me staring at him.

“It’s getting late” I said.

“So you’re going home?”

“Yeah.”

I walked all the way home thinking about him, I can’t contain my feelings, my heart flutters when I’m around him especially when he’s happy, I just want to make him happy so badly and be with him b-but I don’t know if I’m ready to tell him how I feel yet.

When I headed back home, Jet is also at the front door, we headed to our bedroom for the night.


	38. Chapter 38

31/12/2008

“Rain pouring rain” I hummed to myself by the window, the rain is so heavy on the last day of the year...

I brushed my hair off my eyes thinking about Mom, she’s able to get out of the bed and she seems pretty energetic, no one can tell she’s sick!

Could she really be recovering? Is she going to be well again?

The sound of glass cracking brought my attention, I turned my head, shit someone broke our window!

I looked at the shattered glass, everything is blurry now, I headed outside with an umbrella.

There’s a baseball on the floor, I frowned and turned my head.

Eku, her goons, Taro and Red are playing baseball with Leslie as a spectator near my house all of them except Red dressed in rain coats.

I gritted my teeth and yelled “Play somewhere else!”

They stopped and looked at me “Oh it’s slutty cat again” said Eku.

“Oh my, he’s so angry!” Leslie said.

“Gees you look like you just got out of a stormy night.”

“You three go play your stupid baseball somewhere else” I said, tossing the ball back to them.

Eku frowned grabbing the ball “Why should we you spoil sport?”

“You broke my window, you are gonna pay for that!”

“Whatever don’t be such a whiner.”

I approached her, “Pay up! It’s your fault starting this match in front of my house!”

Eku let out a fake high pitched squeal “Oh no this whore wants me to pay by making me give up my wholesomeness to his horribly dirty toadstool!”

“Oh no!” Leslie shrieked.

“Shut up! I don’t want your wholesomeness or whatever, just pay for the window!” I yelled.

“Stop being a spoiled brat” said Red “She doesn’t need to pay for a stinkin window.”

“Yeah be a man, a broken window is nothing” said Eku.

They walked away ignoring me, I rushed back grabbing Eku’s arm, dropping my umbrella on the way “Pay!” I said.

“Why are you so persistent?” she said.

“Yeah others just let it slide when we accidentally break their windows” said Taro.

“I don’t care just pay for the window, you are filthy rich right Eku? You can easily pay for the window, my family can’t.”

“Save up and stop being a spendthrift wuss” she said, yanking her arm off, smacking my face on the way and walking away with the others.

I collapsed on the ground, I don’t care if I won’t get pocket money for several months but Jet and Sarah won’t be able to get any pocket money for several months either.

I headed went back home with the umbrella, Jet and Sarah were looking at the broken window with a horrified look on their faces.

“It’s Eku, Taro, Leslie and Red” I said.

“You didn’t get them to pay up?” said Jet.

“I tried but they were persistent.”

“So what are you going to do?”

“You tell Mom and I go find someone to get our window replaced, she has to know you know.”

Jet nodded and headed to the bedroom.

I patted Sarah’s head “You just do whatever you want, I’ll just go out for a while to fix our window kay?” I said.

She nodded as I headed for town.

When I managed to get the repairman to fix our window my ears drooped at the price, it will be seven months of no pocket money...

On the way home I saw Red and a girl with long unkempt dark brown hair kissing by the street, I noticed she has cat ears and a tail like me but she has furry patches on her arms, waist and legs. She is one of the more advanced cat folks...

I unrolled my sleeve to reveal my pale bare wrist, I wonder how it’s like to have fur on your wrists... I know the fur on my ears and tail does prevent those spots from being cold but I bet having fur on your body would guarantee you will never get cold.

The girl suddenly undid Red’s scarf and pressed her lips to him, fingering his shirt.

I turned away ignoring them, wow teasing each other in public...

I shut my eyes as I walked past the couples, the next that happened was I felt somebody bumping into me causing me to lose my balance.

I groaned opening my eyes, I gasped at who I saw on top of me, Blood is apologizing getting off me.

Red unfortunately saw us “Gees you are already getting it on now? How much of skank can you get?”

“He wasn’t making out with me!” Blood yelled.

“Why do you defend that faggot for? All he does is bring weirdness to you.”

“Say what you will but you are the one that’s weird!”

“I am not weird you son of a bitch!”

“Blood we better go...” I yanked at his arm.

“Aww he’s running away” said the cat girl.

“What a chicken running away now” said Red “Gonna go whore yourself with him instead of getting your window fixed?”

“Window?” Blood turned to Red.

“Oh you don’t know do you?”

“What is he on about Kleude?”

“Eku, Taro and him were playing a baseball match and one of their balls smashed my window...” I said.

“What!?” he managed to get off my grip “Did you just break his window and he has to pay for it!?”

“What’s the big deal it’s only a window” said Red.

“Isn’t that a little-“ said the cat girl before he turned to her with a sour face “Oh yeah it’s just a window!”

“How dare you all just walk off like it’s nothing! Pay up, you guys started it!” Blood yelled.

Red suddenly had a very strange glare on his face... I grabbed Blood’s arm, this does not spell good news...

“You want to pick on a fight shorty?” he asked.

“If you will pay for that window” said Blood.

“Let’s just go Blood, he’s pretty strong” I said.

“But it’s not your fault!”

I sigh as I watched them got for a fist on fist fight, Red is pretty good at fighting dirty if he wants to...

The girl was cheering for Red, I cheered for Blood to encourage him to beat Red.

Red eventually did something that surprised me when he turns out to be losing, he raised his leg to kick Blood on the crotch!

Blood let out a piercing shriek kneeling on the floor, Red yanked at his spikes whispering “You were a fool to think you can challenge me, come back and be a real man shorty then we can duel again.”

“You know something I’ve known from what Kleude told me about you big guy?”

“What?” one of Red’s eye is twitching.

“I don’t care if you are a ‘real man’ or not” he pushed Red “All I care is you are a jerk!”

“Stop it!” the cat girl cried.

“If I were you, I would never date someone like him” Blood glared at the girl before looking at Red again.

Red just trembled at his glare and finally said “O-okay okay I’ll tell Eku that we’ll pay for your stupid faggot friend’s window!”

“Good!” Blood is smiling again...

Red is wincing when he took his girlfriend to another part of the street, Blood clutched his groin again when they left.

“Ow I dunno if I’ll ever produce sperm ever again...” he said.

“I’m sure you will” I said.

“Gees thanks...” he grinned at me, it’s wonderful to see his innocent smiles... “Hey shall we head to the forest tonight?”

“Okay.”

He grinned at me and waved good bye heading off in another direction.

As I headed back home I thought about him again, should I tell him tonight? I thought about Red, he always says how much he loves the girls he dated yet forgets about them once they do ‘it’ somewhere and ditches them when they tell him they’re pregnant without a second thought.

I’m afraid of this feeling, is my feeling for him to see him so happy for me and what I do to please him all just so I could claim him a-and? I clutched my chest, I will tell him how I feel, he needs to know!

When I returned home, Jet and Ariel are playing with Sarah when the repairman arrived to get the window fixed.

“Welcome back big brother” said Jet.

I waved to them “Hi.”

“Want to join us as a family?”

I nodded, Jet and Ariel were playing as a couple while Sarah is their kid, I have to be the bumbling uncle.

“Too bad we can’t get a Yoshi to join us as our pet...” said Jet.

“About that...” I said.

“Huh?”

“Blood kinda found out and he got Red to pay up...”

“Whoa how did that happen?” Ariel gasped.

“Long story.”

They shut their mouth and continued to play House until night time passes and Jet went out with Ariel alone.

I waited until Blood arrived.

“Yay Mr Spikey hair is here!” Sarah cheered.

“We are going to go out somewhere together though” I said.

“Why?”

“Some friendship moment.”

“Can I go?”

“No we want our privacy, you can go look at your fairy tales though.”

“Aww...”

I sigh taking Blood out of my house, heading for the forest.

When we were in the cooling forest Blood stretched his arms “Ahh it’s wonderful to be in the forest...”

I nodded, he grinned at me at first before he suddenly stopped smiling at me, staring at my face.

“Blood?”

“Tomorrow you’ll be closer to adulthood and the rest of us will become teenagers...”

“Yeah...”

“Time sure flies fast doesn’t it?”

I nodded, I should tell him now... “Blood.”

“Yes?”

“I-I...” I found myself stuck on what to say as my ears twitched!

“Your face is turning red-“he gasped when I grabbed his hands.

“Blood I love you!”

His eyes widened “You l-love me?”

“Yes I love you so much!” I trembled, I finally said it, I finally said it!

He just stared at me, I let go of his hands falling to the ground, what is he thinking? Is he put off?

He crouched down so that he was on level with my face “I love you too” he said “you are so precious to me...”

I shut my eyes putting my head on top of his spikes, they are so prickly yet so comforting...

When I finally removed my chin from his head “But Blood...” I said “W-what if it’s just-“

“It’s nothing like that bastard Kleude!”

I cried, clutching his body, I don’t want to make him miserable or hurt him b-but w-what if...

Blood suddenly pulled himself away from me, we just stared at each other when he shut his eyes and drew his face close to mine.

I shut my eyes as well and felt his lips pressing to mine, it’s warm and a bit slobbery but I didn’t care, after what seems like forever we broke off

We took our first kiss away to each other... Blood is smiling at me, I smiled back, it felt pleasant but it’s even more wonderful to know he likes it.

His hand suddenly raised up to run through my hair “You have beautiful hair Kleude...”

I blushed, holding one of his spike with my fingers, they are so tough just like he is...

I looked at his innocent face and he tugged at some strands of my hair, he seems so very innocent, I don’t want to spoil this innocence yet...


	39. Chapter 39

1/1/2009

When I woke up, I looked at the time, 5.30 AM. I stretched my arms, I can’t sleep anymore...

Jet and Sarah are still in bed, I thought about last night, Blood and I actually kissed! I smiled at that thought... it’s warm and pleasant and I know he also likes it, he was so happy. I wish I could make him even happier...

I headed for the living room, Mom is nearby at the kitchen making something.

I glanced over her head, she’s mixing up an egg mixture and there’s a frying pan nearby.

She smiled when she saw me “Good morning Kleude.”

“Morning Mom.”

“I’m trying out eggrolls for breakfast!”

I looked at Mom, we don’t have a square pan for those but could she do an eggroll anyway? I mean she was supposed to get a degree at culinary but then... I bit my lips, she had me.

She poured some of the mixture into the pan flipping it with the spatula when it hardened a bit rolling the egg into a neat roll.

She is so deft and skilled at this... I bet she would have been a very successful chef if she didn’t have to take care of me so soon.

“It’s ready” said Mom, taking the platter of eggrolls of the dining table, she noticed my face “What’s wrong?”

“You could have been a chef instead of raising me...”

“It doesn’t matter dear, I was willing to raise a child with your father.”

“B-but-“

She smiled at me when she suddenly clutched her heart “Mom?”

“It’s okay dear... it’s just acting up again.”

“You should take a rest your body is weak from the illness.”

She smiled at me kissing my cheeks, “Mom what if your body was weak because...”

“It was always weak dear. Your grandma and grandpa had me young.”

My eyes widened, I don’t remember about my grandparents, I never seen Mom or Dad’s parents in years, Mom said her parents saw me when I was born but I don’t remember them.

“Mom, what are grandpa and grandma like?”

“They were loving parents, very understanding and they tried to take me out to places I like and help me get a good education in a good school even thought they are so poor.”

“But then why did you-“

“I felt sorry for your Dad and tried to help him even though he was easily angered, eventually he calmed down and we decided to get married and have a family.”

“...” I realize that she must have loved Dad very much to start a family with him even though it meant she won’t be able to work and her body is already weak for whatever reason so she must have took a lot of risk to give birth to Jet, Sarah and me.

“You kids are growing so much...” she let out a hoarse cough “If I can’t make it...”

“You’ll make it Mom, when you get better all of us will be with you and you will have grandkids to be with!”

She sniffed “Oh honey...”

I sigh as she got some milk out of the refrigerator, I don’t know if I should tell her the truth, she would be heartbroken if she did! Yet somehow I feel like she should know her dream for me to have a family will never materialize...

“Kleude dear would you like to see your grandparents someday?”  
My eyes widened “Grandma and Grandpa?”

“I’m sure they would love to see you kids after so many years of absence...”

“Where do they live anyway?”

“Ah you wait and see, I promise that all of you will love meeting them.”

“...”

“It will be a wonderful sweet sixteenth birthday present yes?”

I thought about it, are Dad’s parents still around? He never talks about them at all “Have you ever seen Dad’s parents?” she stopped smiling, “Mom?”

“They were very disapproving when we told them we were going to get married and start a family...” she didn’t say another word.

I didn’t ask anymore questions when the others arrive to have breakfast before we head to school.

Mom took Sarah to her school while Jet and I head for ours, Jet and I wanted to take Sarah to school instead but Mom insisted we will be late if we do since her school RS Elementary is quite far away from our home and even further away from our school.

Moton scowled when I sat next to him “Urg another year with the lazy cat...” he groaned.

Eku, Taro and Leslie snickered at my face, I groaned to myself earning a poke on the ribs by Moton “No slacking this year got it? You bring down my grades enough as it is!”

I frowned at him, getting a textbook out to read.

During recess, I ate by the playing field since it’s crowded inside the cafeteria.

Eku, Taro and Leslie went to the fields with some other friends to play a match of hockey, well Eku and the boys are playing, Leslie and the other girls were cheering them on.

Leslie has something bulging under her bag, I don’t smell good news in that bag...

Suddenly Eku and Taro got out of the field to approach me, Leslie’s eyes widened as she watched them.

“So how’s your little fuckfest with that little boy slutty cat?” Eku asked.

“Why do you care?” I asked.

“Oooh someone is secretive about his sex life...”

“We weren’t sleeping with each other-”

“Gees Taro did you hear what Red said to us earlier?”

“Yeah he chose to have an orgy in the gym rather than play hockey with us!” said Taro.

“What a shame, the more the merrier...”

What are they on about? Maybe I should go somewhere else to eat...

Before I could sneak away however, Eku managed to get back to me in double quick time “Oh and are you gonna hang out with your little kiddie friend with a bad haircut?”

“He must be totally in love with that kid!” said Taro.

“I’m not in love!” I yelled.

“Oh he’s turning red” said Eku.

“And he’s shaking...” said Taro.

The two of them smirked “It’s obvious he’s in love...”

“With a kid?”

“What a paedophile.”  
“Shut up!” I screamed “I am not a creep!”

“Creep falling in love with a kid ew ew ew!”

“Red is right this guy is creepy!” said Taro.

“Yeah yuck yuck gross, he really is a faggot!”

“And he just corrupted that kid as well!”

I gritted my teeth “Shut up! Your friend Red is not any better sleeping with half of the school!”

They gasped, I turned away and ran to another space in private to eat by a tree, now everyone will know I’m dating Bloody! I’m gonna be arrested for life! Thank you so much for taking care of me Mom but your worst son is gonna spend the rest of his life in an mental asylum at least for two years...

Red just came out of the school entree with his usual poker face, I hid myself behind the tree as he met up with the others.

Eku looks pissed off, stamping her toes going into a rage “Red I was so wanting you to play a match of hockey and you just have to screw five girls in one go!”

“I know women are fun but really” said Taro.

“Reddie is no fun! He doesn’t want to play hockey and watch the fireworks!” Leslie cried.

Red sniffed as the others scowled at him.

After school Jet and I returned home, Sarah is already at home reading fairy tales.

“Little red riding hood... Momotaro... Snow White and the seven dwarfs...” I looked at the cover of the books before looking at what Sarah is reading, Rapunzel.

Sarah smiled when she saw us “Big brothers you two are back!”

Jet cuddled her ruffling her hair “How have you been Sarah?”

“It’s been fun! Everyone was so nice to me in school!”

“That’s wonderful!”

“Um I have something to say to you two...” I said.

“Huh?”

“We are going to see Mom’s parents when I turn sixteen.”

“Oooohhh...” said Sarah.

“I wonder how grandma and grandpa are like...” said Jet.

We stared into the air, I can’t wait to see Grandpa and Grandma next month and I bet the others are excited too.

Tonight we are over at Ariel’s house to watch Journey to the sky.

We seen about ten episodes where Pooly and Aquila try to escape from hell now, from Ariel’s collection we only have a few episodes left.

“We are finally out of hell!” Pooly screamed.

“Gees I would like you to stay in hell forever Fido...” I mumbled.

“Isn’t it wonderful-“ his eyes widened.

Aquila’s eyes are flashing again, glowing even in the night sky.

“I-I...” a feminine voice echoed.

“Hello?” Pooly waved his hand.

“My soul...”

“Huh!?”

“I will give up my soul to create the ultimate robot for you master.”

“What!?” all of us screamed.

“That voice i-is” said Ariel.

“A-Aquila?” Jet choked.

We didn’t say a word as Aquila’s stopped flashing and it or rather she looked at Pooly.

“W-what is going on?” Pooly asked.

“I remember it all...” said the robot, her voice isn’t robotic this time, it was the same voice that was haunting her in some of the previous episodes “My...my master wanted my soul to created the ultimate robot to destroy light and create darkness...”

She explained through the entire episode about her origin.

“The master is wrong...” she said “I must stop him...”

“Wait!” Pooly cried “Take me with you! I want to help you!”

The robot looked at him, putting her hand out for him to step on as she put him on his shoulders to fly to the sky.

All of us were completely silent about the revelation of Aquila as the credits rolled but after it ended Ariel finally found her tongue.

“You mean that robot is really a...” said Ariel.

“Yeah” said Blood.

“What is going to happen now?”

“Should we see the rest of the show?” I asked.

“Why not?” said Blood.

I’m glad that I’m not sitting right next to Blood as we were watching this, I’m sure we would do something that will tip off Jet and Ariel.

Pooly cheered when he was above the sky “It’s so puffy and white!” he yelled.

“It is...” said Aquila.

Pooly grinned “Hey Aquila when we stop the baddies do you want to hang out by the sky enjoying the moment without anything to worry about?”

“Okay...”

But they have to deal with the enemies shortly after and by the time they were done the eyecatch appeared.

“Oh something is going to happen after that eyecatch” said Ariel.

“Yeah” Blood nodded.

When the eyecatch ends Pooly grinned and his eyes opened.

“Yeah we are closer to bringing peace!” he yelled.

“Master Pooly look out!” Aquila yelled.

“Huh?” his eyes popped open again “It’s the king of the demons!”

They began to fight, Blood cheered for Pooly and Aquila as they began to attack the demon king and the sky turned red during the battle but the episode ended while they are still fighting.

The next episode was all about battles until Pooly and Aquila combined their powers in the last few seconds and the credit rolled as their finished off the demon king.

“Wow the music is longer than usual” said Jet.

All of us nodded as the music faded and there is no discussion about the next episode.

“Hey Ariel how many episodes are there left?” Blood asked.

She looked at her remaining CD collection “Just two” she said.

“Shall we see the last two? We still have one hour left.”

“Well I could” I said, leaning to face Jet and Ariel “But my brother and Ariel here?”

“Hey we can watch both episodes Kleude!” Jet yelled.

I snorted as Blood popped the next CD into his VCD player and the VCD loads up.

There is no opening at all...

“We did it!” Pooly yelled doing a little dance, including doing a cartflip when he noticed Aquila’s eyes are not glowing “Hey buddy?”

Aquila glowed golden, leaving Pooly blind folded, a transparent girl emerged from her dress in a thick robe, she is completely white with long hair in a braid.

Pooly couldn’t say a word as she float into the air, there were tears trailing off her eyes as she gradually vanish “Goodbye Pooly...”

Pooly’s eyes snapped open and he tried to reach the girl “Wait!” he cried “Don’t we get to hang out together after this?”

She didn’t reply just vanishing, Pooly ripped out a loud ‘No!” as she disappeared leaving a limp and lifeless robot behind.

“Oh poor Aquila...” said Ariel.

It was just another boring 15 minutes watching Pooly moping and staring at the sky and his grandfather tried to comfort him when suddenly he saw a sparkle outside his house and it sent him to the sky and the episode ended.

“One more episode...” I groaned.

“Hey you want to stop watching the show?” Blood asked.

I shook my head “There’s still one more episode, might as well finish it.”

“Okay...” he cocked his head popping the last CD into his VCD player.

During the final episode the girl’s voice is whispering to Pooly while he’s on the sky thanking him for helping her save the world and now she is in peace.

The next day passed and it started off like a normal day when Pooly decided to try out using his air magic he just learnt from his grandfather.

“Whoa he can float on the air” said Ariel.

“What’s he going to do?” Jet asked.

“Probably go and take over heaven” I said.

When he arrived past the clouds and landed with another air magic he grinned and said “I finally went past the sky on my own! Just you wait Aquila when I grow up I will be able to break past the horizon!”

And the credits rolled with everyone else leading their lives as normal.

Blood grabbed his TV controller, shutting off his TV, removing the CD and shut off his VCD player “Well that was fun” he said.

“Yeah” said Ariel.

Ariel took her collection of the anime with her heading for her house, Jet took my arm and said it’s time to head back home but I told him I want to stay and talk to Blood for a while.

When we were alone Blood took hold of my hand “Hey are you okay about this?” he asked “The fact we are...”

“I’m fine” I said.

“But don’t your parents disapprove? That’s what you said right?”

“Yeah... but I don’t want to run away from myself Blood...” I gripped his hand “I’ll do anything for you.”

He sigh to himself, I approached his face, putting a hand on his forehead “Kleude?”

“I don’t care what Mom or Dad says I want this” with that I kissed his forehead.


	40. Chapter 40

9/1/2009

This morning is pouring with rain and it’s thundery, Jet and I hates thundery weathers but it’s school day!

“God if only I can stay at home” Jet whined as I combed his hair.

“I thought you said that it was bad to skip school” I said.

“Yeah but when it’s so cold and thundery...” he slumped on his bed as I stopped brushing his hair to get his hair slide.

I tied his hair in a neat ponytail, I noted he’s growing up “Hey Jet” I said.

“Hm?”

“Can you get out of bed?”

“Okay?” he got out, I raised my hand to his head, he’s up to my nose.

“You are bigger than when I was your age...” I mumbled.

“Brother?”

“W-what if you...”

“It doesn’t matter you will always be my big brother.”

He smiled at me, I sigh running my fingers through his ears, he’s an early bloomer, even his voice is cracking it sounds quite mature already.

“Kleude are you in love?”

I stopped petting his ears “Me in love?”

“Mom was mumbling about this girl you like last night in her sleep.”

I let go of his ears, turning away to hide my face “...”

“You were always so evasive about love big brother, is there a girl that tickles your fancy?”

“Maybe...”

“How come I don’t know about her then?”

I didn’t reply, I can’t just go out and say it’s really Blood, he’ll be heartbroken to know what was I hiding!

“Brother please tell me about this girl, I want to know if she’s a good person-“

“I’m still not sure of my feelings yet, I do know her but...”

“You love her right?”

“Yes but...”

“You are not thinking about sex are you?”

I began to break into a heavy sweat “Of course not! Why would I want to do that? She could get pregnant and sex is just disgusting!”

“Whoa don’t need to panic!”

“I don’t want to do something so heavy. That is out of the question even if I don’t need to worry about babies, it’s bad enough ‘he’ is sleeping with half of the girls in school and making who knows how many children.”

“Okay so what do you want to do with her?”

“...” I relaxed shutting my eyes “I just want to put my arms around her and be able to pat her head, ignore the fact I’m half furry and just comfort her.”

Jet smiled at me when Sarah got up “Ah feeling refreshed?” he asked ticking her.

I watched Jet tickle Sarah’s little tummy as she squealed and laughed, I didn’t say this but I hope for a life of no sex at all, I just want a life away from that gross thing most of my classmates go on about once I leave school, I saw it once I don’t ever need to see it again.

“I wanna go to school and meet all my new friends!” Sarah said.

Jet stopped tickling her “Oh so you want to meet all your friends?”

“Are you gonna take her to school?” I asked.

“Well it’s too cold and thundery to spend a day in school so might as well, what about you?”

“I’ll go as well.”

After all of us dressed and got a large umbrella we departed to where Sarah’s school is, Sarah gave us directions to her school cheering when she saw some other kids cheering to her, they were dressed in raincoats jumping into puddles.

“Whoa don’t want to get a cold” I grabbed her before she could scuttle off.

“Aww but I want to play in the puddles!” she said.

“After school? You don’t want to go home in the middle of the day with a chill okay?” said Jet.

“Okay!”

“You always know what to say to her huh” I said.

“Well you tend to hang out with Blood way longer than you should while I’m the one who has to tuck her in” said Jet.

“Shut up.”

We made silly faces at each other but that’s okay it’s almost always like that when it comes to our little sister.

But I find myself thinking about something as we headed back home to wait for the rain to end as he read some books and I did some scribbling or whatever we have on our home, he’s lucky to be dating Ariel, she’s a girl and our parents approve when he told. But I’m dating Blood... we have to hide our relationship from everyone, Blood considered dating when we are alone but I don’t want us to be caught by the others so I rejected that.

Mom saw us in the living room “Aren’t you two supposed to be at school?” she asked.

“But it’s so cold and thundery outside, we just want to stay home for one day” said Jet.

Mom sigh heading to the kitchen when she suddenly collapsed.

“Mom!” we yelled.

“Ah... my heart it’s acting up again...” she gasped.

“Shall I get the doctor?”

“Don’t worry I’ll take a rest and then I’ll be-“ before she could finish she let out a hoarse cough.

“I’ll get the doctor!” I got up, took an umbrella and headed off to town to the clinic.

When the doctor returned home to check on Mom in the living room I headed to the bedroom since the doctor is going to undress Mom to wash her hot body with some kind of medicine.

It’s still raining heavily but the thunder has subsided, Jet has returned home red faced.

“You saw the doctor helping mom bathe?” I asked.

He nodded “Urg to see so much of Mom...” he headed for the bathroom.

“Gonna head for a bath?”

“Yeah, what about you?”

“Sure.”

We undressed and headed for the bathroom taking a hot steamy bath.

Tonight after we pick Sarah back from school and she headed for an early bed time Jet decided to visit Ariel on a date somewhere, I have to stay at home to watch Mom and make sure she’s not suffering from anymore pain for the day.

Mom is covered in thick layers of blankets but she was still sneezing, I went to my bedroom to get my blanket for her.

She gasped when I wrapped my blanket around her current blanket “Oh dear that’s sweet of you but you don’t need to give me another one” she said.

“But you need to be warm” I said.

“I’m warm enough...” she peered at me, do I have zits on my face? “You are growing so much...”

“Mom?”

“You are going to leave boyhood so soon, it’s all going so fast... soon even little Sarah will be so big...”

“Mom you got to get well, you just gotta!” I clutched the blankets trembling.

She sigh patting my head “I’ll do whatever I can for all of you...”

“Please please do, then you’ll see Jet and Sarah all grown up with families of their own.”

Mom didn’t say a word crying on the bed, I patted her head trying to comfort her even though I wanted to cry as well, she seems so well last year yet here she is sicker than ever now.

After some medication she collapsed to sleep, I slowly removed my blanket, she won’t notice one blanket and it’s cold tonight.

When I rearranged my blanket Jet returned home from his date with Ariel, they look rather boot faced for some reason I noted.

“What’s the matter?” I asked.

“We were going out checking out Sylvanian Families dolls when we saw some of your classmates smirking at us” said Jet.

“They sneered at us asking if we done it yet” said Ariel.

“I told them why does it matter and they laughed at us, that guy Red even said I was lame.”

“Please don’t listen to him” I said.

“I won’t what do you take me for big brother?”

“But what the others including him said about you was terrible...” Ariel mumbled.

“They are just being jerks!”

“But you were hurt right? Don’t deny that Jet! Kleude should know about it you know.”

Jet looked at Ariel sighing “They said I was an effeminate wimp and wondered how can Ariel see anything in me and she is weird for hanging out with me” he shook his head “But the worst thing is when Red asked Ariel to go to the boutique with him where he can give her stuff that is more mature than hanging around the toy shop looking at babyish things.”

“Going for Ariel again?” I asked.

“What’s with him wanting her so much anyway? She told him to go away but he just won’t.”

“I can hear you, you know” said Ariel.

“But it was brave of you to refuse even when his friends were on his side.”

“But still what they just said about that Red guy, what is he up to? They were complaining he rather spend time ‘touching’ girls over hanging out with them.”

I knew what they were on about, Eku, Taro and Leslie were complaining about that pretty often whenever I see them.

I have to wonder about him, he claimed that it means his 100% straight since gays cannot enjoy sex with women so it meant he’s perfectly normal, but it keeps being more and more frequent even his friends are getting cross with him.

Does sex really corrupt people like that? It must be a really bad thing then.

“Hey Kleude is something wrong?” Jet asked.

“Oh it’s nothing” I said.

They peered at me as if I’m hiding something but they didn’t ask questions, Ariel headed back for her house while Jet and I headed for bed.


	41. Chapter 41

30/1/2009

Jet and I tried to manage on our own but it’s getting difficult to do everything at home, the others offered to help, I didn’t want to trouble them but they refuse to back down helping us do whatever they can for us.

Blood is steaming porridge, he wanted to help dust the living room but knowing his room I refused and told him to help prepare lunch instead.

Ariel has to help me clean up the house I apologized to her as she polished the table.

After we finished cleaning up the living room Blood arrived with a bowl of carrots “You two worked hard!” he said.

We grinned taking a carrot from the bowl to eat, Ariel has to take the carrot sticks, I pity her for not having fangs to pierce through an entire carrot.

When Blood and Jet finished preparing lunch I took the porridge for Mom first before joining the others.

“Say Kleude I just realize something” said Blood.

“Realize what?”

“Your mother looks pretty young, I mean my classmates moms and even Mom looks older than her.”

“So what if she looks young?” I crossed my shoulder.

“I’m not saying it’s a bad thing to look young but err... how old is your mother?”

I slammed the table “Mind your own business about my Mom’s age Bloody.”

“Did she have you while she was still in-“ I got out of my chair.

“Shut up Blood, how old she had me is none of your business!”

Blood suddenly frowned getting out of his chair as well “Don’t be such a brat about her age!”

“Says you!” I blew a raspberry and ran to my bedroom, locking the door.

I stayed in bed the entire afternoon even though I’m starving, damn Blood, why did he have to bring up Mom all of a sudden? He doesn’t need to know how young she is.

There was a knock on the door “Kleude?” it’s Jet’s voice.

“Come in” I said.

Jet opened the door holding a bowl of instant noodles “I’m sorry about what happened earlier.”

“It’s not your fault” I scooped some of the noodles.

“But Blood was upset when you suddenly stormed out of the room in a temper.”

“...”

“He left the house in a fit you know.”

I sigh sipping the soup “I’m sorry for what I said...”

“Tell that to Blood, he’s your friend right?”

“He’s probably going to just slam the door on my face...”

Jet didn’t say anymore as I finished the noodles up, I’m still upset at what just happened earlier but I really don’t want our friendship to be damaged...

Maybe I should apologize, it’s the least I can do.

Tonight I headed off to Blood’s house while Jet stayed at home to play with Sarah.

I mentally prepared my speech as I travelled to his house I hope I didn’t upset him too much I really don’t, damn Kleude you have to explode about Mom huh?

I mentally slapped myself for the speech when I arrived at the front door.

Blood arrived at the front door, he frowned when he saw me “What is it?”

“I-I just want to say that I-I’m sorry...” I choked, dang there goes remembering my line, I feel so nervous around him especially when he’s not wearing one of his goofy grins.

“For what? For practically storming off when I asked how old your mother is? Or for how old your mother is? Your brother told me how old she is.”

My mouth tightened at his face, his frown is deepening...

“Kleude your mother is only 34 isn’t she?”

I nodded.

“Is that why you never told us how old she is?”

I nodded slowly.

“I can’t believe it... my best friend is born through teenage pregnancy...”

“Blood...” I tried to put my hands on his shoulders when he slapped me away.

“Don’t touch me you teenage hellspawn!” I backed off “Are you going to follow in the footsteps of your mother a-and...” he ran off to his house before he could finish what he was saying.

As he slammed the door, I hung my head, Blood is upset, I knew he would, who would want to know their friends came from parents who had them before they even finish school.

I told myself that it doesn’t matter that he just stormed off, it happened before with Moton.

But still he wasn’t just a friend, we were best friends for years but there’s also something else...

I pressed my finger to my lips, we kissed each other last month... we aren’t just friends anymore, we love each other.

I trembled on the front of my house, I still love him so much but he probably doesn’t want any more to do with me now.

“Hey Kleude” I raised my head, Jet opened the door.

“...” I bit my lip finding myself unable to speak.

“Did something happen big brother? You don’t look so good.”

“...” I headed into the house.

“Brother did you two get into a fight again? Your face is completely white!”

I tried to get my voice back “H-he...” I trembled falling onto Jet’s chest “He said that I was a teenage hellspawn a-and...”

“You are not a hellspawn big brother, what he said was unforgivable!”

“You are not the one who managed to kill Mom’s dream.”

“You didn’t kill her dream! She loves you a lot big brother!”

“...”

“Blood is wrong, nothing is wrong with you at all.”

“Why did you tell him how old Mom is?”

“He begged me when you stormed out of the room, wondering why you didn’t want him to know.”

“You shouldn’t tell him...”

“It’s still his fault he won’t accept past that, he seems like such a nice guy...” Jet yanked away from me heading to the bedroom.

I followed him as well changing before heading for bed.

But I couldn’t sleep, thoughts began to flood my head as I thought about earlier, is Blood and my friendship really at an end over Mom? I don’t want it to end, I really don’t. We’ve been friends for six years, surely it can’t be ending like this!

Maybe he will forget about it, but damn he shouldn’t have asked about Mom, why does it concern him for?

My mind is thorn about this as I rolled to the corner, he’s wrong to ask that but yet what if Mom(and Dad) waited a little longer before they married?

More thoughts began to haunt me when I finally collapsed in the morning, nobody woke me up thank goodness but I woke up much later after falling off the bed with a painful bump.


	42. Chapter 42

11/2/2009

Just two more days before it’s time to see Grandma and Grandpa! Dad is at home helping Mom to pack her things, the rest of us are already done packing up our stuff to take for one night.

“You look tired big brother” said Sarah.

“Ahh just missed some sleep...” I groaned.

“You are missing quite a bit of sleep over the trip” said Jet.

“But aren’t you excited that we’ll see Mom’s parents soon?”

“Yeah...”

“Where do you think they live?”

“Hmm I dunno.”

“Should we borrow a camera, I’m sure Ariel and Blood would love to have some pho-“ I stopped thinking about Blood, we saw each other from time to time but we weren’t speaking to each other, Ariel and Jet noticed it and asked me about it but I didn’t give an answer.

“Are you still upset about what Blood asked you?”

“...”

Jet sigh getting some tea for all three of us, I took the little jug of milk to pour over the tea, it’s wrong of me to snap at Blood I thought to myself, should I talk to him when I see him again? Maybe I should visit his house again...

He will forgive me right?

“Hey Kleude your tea is gonna be more milk than tea soon” said Jet, I gasped lifting up the jug, I forgot about my tea!

I sipped the tea, it tastes very milky but I didn’t care at this point.

Tonight I announced to Jet I’ll be heading to Blood’s house.

“Huh but aren’t you two pretty much not speaking?” he asked.

“I want to see him and apologize again” I said.

“Okay but what if he doesn’t accept this time?”

“I guess it means we are official over...”

Jet didn’t say anything as I headed for Blood’s house.

On the way I noticed that there was some snow melting on a fire hydrant.

“Aww don’t melt snow!” my ears perked up, Leslie is nearby.

I tried sneaking past her when she suddenly let out a loud shriek “Daddy!” she cried, turning away from the fire hydrant.

I noticed her father has both arms and one leg missing with the remaining leg bulging horribly, he was on a wheel chair as Leslie pushed him towards the fire hydrant.

“Don’t run so fast Leslie...” he said.

“Aww but walking is boring!”Leslie’s father sigh at the bouncing, screaming girl “Daddy can I take the fire hydrant home? Mommy would love having a fire hydrant!”

“It will be a bit hard to take it back home...”

“It will be easy with a saw!”

“But Leslie the town might flo-“Leslie threw a tantrum and interrupted him

‘It won’t flood, someone will come and get rid of all the water right?”

I snorted to myself as I went past Leslie and her father as they argued about the fire hydrant.

“You are so stupid little girl...” said a nasal voice.

“Shut up nerd!” Leslie screamed.

I turned my head, Moton is nearby at the moment holding a book, shaking his head at Leslie.

“You are delirious to think you can even take that fire hydrant.”

“Shut up, I’ll get a hacksaw and take this home to Mommy!”

“If you could the police would get you.”

“I will tell them it’s for Mommy they’ll understand!”

“Urg you are almost as bad as that emo cat...”

“You mean slutty kitty?”

Even though I’m practically in front of Blood’s house and I can barely see the others, their voices still rang through my ears, it’s one of those days I wish I didn’t have these massive furry ears.

I knocked on the door, there wasn’t a reply, I peeked through a window to see if anyone was at home.

Judging by the moving shadow on one of the windows, yes the house isn’t empty yet.

I knocked on the door once more when I felt my head getting slammed to the door, I can’t turn since there are two hands gripping the back of my head.

“Hey why if it isn’t Mr Pretty kitty!” said a loud chirpy voice.

“L-Leslie?” I said.

“It’s so nice to see you here, are you going to visit your little fuck buddy?”

“He isn’t a fuck buddy...”

“Oh but Eku and Taro were talking about how jealous they are that you have a sex life” her long nails began to dig into my head.

“L-let me go...”

“Gees you are weak you know that?” Moton...

“Shut up Moton!” I yelled.

“You can’t even get past a silly little girl, you really are pathetic...”

“I’m not silly!” Leslie cried, letting go of my head.

I leaned by the door rubbing the back of my head as Leslie tried to hit Moton, he slapped her away with his book sending her flying. I tried to back off as she landed by my feet.

However she ignored me, crying on the ground “You are mean I will tell Mommy what you did to me!”

“Go ahead, what you need is a nice big spanking” said Moton.

“Mommy would never spank me! Only men get spankings!” all of a sudden her hands are on my ears “Pretty kitty help me!”

“No!” I said.

“You are mean!” I cried as she yanked my ears and pulled me in front of Moton like a shield “Get this horrible guy away from me!”

Moton shook his head “You are pathetic falling for her little ploy...”

“Look I just want to talk to my friend okay?” I said “I don’t want anything to do with you two.”

“You just want to chicken out, you are a little coward, how can you even exist?”

I trembled at his words as Leslie yanked at my tail, I was about to push Leslie off and slap his offensive face when the door opened.

“What in the ruckus is going on here can all of you shut up-“ I turned my head, Mrs Maverick is gasping by the entrance now “K-Kleude what is going on?”

“...” I covered my face with my hands.

“Oh help me, this guy with the glasses is being a mean jerk to me!” Leslie cried.

“Stop pulling his tail little girl, it hurts when you do that” said Mrs Maverick.

“Why? I bet it will be a nice skipping rope.”

“You are just hurting him...” she yanked Leslie away from my tail.

Leslie cried and screamed “Not fair, Eku always gets what she wants!”

“You aren’t going to always get what you want, especially if it means hurting other people.”

Moton was about to walk away when Mrs Maverick called him over to scold him.

I ignored them heading for Blood’s bedroom.

On the way Mrs Maverick is back, calling me.

I stopped by Blood’s front door, waiting for her to say something, is it about those bullies?

“Were they always like that to you?”

I nodded.

“Why don’t you do something about it?”

“I tried... I tried to leave that school but Dad will never change his mind.”

“Oh but you must do something about it!”

“I can’t but don’t worry about me so much, it’s only two more years...” my voice is trembling.

“I’m sorry Kleude...”

“...”

“Are you and my son in love with each other?”

My eyes widened “H-how did you know? Did Blood tell you?”

She shook her head “No but I can tell, he’s always in a good mood when he’s around you and it’s the same for you, it reminds me of the time when I was with Leon when I was younger.”

“Oh...”

“What happened in the last few days between you two? I never seen Blood so upset before, have you two broken up?”

“I don’t know...” I turned away to head to his room.

Blood is reading some books with one of his classmates, what was her name again? Mari?

“K-kleude!” Blood yelled.

“H-hi!” I tried to grin like Blood does when he sees me, waving my arm like a dope.

He didn’t say anything to me, biting his lip.

“Blood?” the girl cocked her head.

“Ah Mari can you leave the room for a couple of minute? My bud and I need to talk” he said, something he said made my mind swell up, I’m still considered his friend!

Mari nodded her head and left us alone, I stared at Blood who is still on his bed “Blood I’m here to say that I was wrong to-“ I gasped when he put his arms around my neck.

“I’m sorry too Kleude!” he said “I don’t care if you are born from a young mother, you didn’t ask for it!” he shook as he said all of this before he cried on my shoulders

“It’s okay Blood I understand...” I put my arms around him.

“But I was horrible to you, saying such bad things to you-“

“So did I Blood...” I snuggled on his spikes.

“Let’s not get into something like that again.”

“Yeah...”

When we finally broke up I took a look at Blood, he’s grown up a lot since I first saw him. He’s not this tiny little kid I remember from childhood anymore.

He was still short and skinny but he was much bigger than he was 6 years ago, I noticed his arms are broader than mine even if they are still rather skinny and there were some definition.

“Are you working out?” I asked feeling his arms.

“Well does running and swinging my arms count?”

I nodded.

“It’s gonna be your sixteenth birthday soon!”

I suddenly remembered what I was going to do then, I only hope he isn’t planning something big by then “Ah Blood there’s something I must tell you!”

“Are you gonna go somewhere? Like to Toshinden City or somewhere like that?”

“To my grandparents in the countryside.”

“Cool, you are gonna see your grandparents!?” Blood jumped on his bed, grabbing my hands, shaking them.

“Yes.”

“Are you gonna take pictures there?”

“If you or Ariel have a camera...”

“Mom has a camera but I dunno if she will trust you to use it, it’s kinda old...”

“I’ll ask Ariel before we go.”

“Great take some lovely shots of the country then!” I nodded, he grinned at me “Have a very happy birthday then, I hope you enjoy your stay with your grandparents.”

I smiled at him pulling away from his grip, that Mari girl must be waiting for a while.

When I was about to get the door, Blood grabbed my other arm “Wait Kleude!”

“What is it Blood?” I gasped when he pressed his lips to mine, I shut my eyes taking in his warm mouth.

The rap on the door made us break apart “I won’t be seeing you on your birthday but happy early sixteenth birthday” he said.

“Thank you” when I got the door Mari is walking about impatient, she cheered when she saw the door opened and headed back in.

I headed back home to hang out with Jet and Sarah, we are going to try to get a camera from Ariel tomorrow for some photos of the countryside Grandma and Grandpa lives.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I find it interesting to note Blood and Kleude face each other in the exact same stage(stage 2) in the game itself, same with Ariel and Blood(stage 6)
> 
> And both Blood and Kleude are Momma's boy types
> 
> Their official JP VA are(other than Takeshi Kusao they aren't confirmed but these are my guesses)  
> Blood- Takeshi Kusao  
> Ariel- Aya Hisakawa  
> Kleude and Lemuria(Lemuria is not appearing in this fic but eh)- Masaya Onosaka(Zhao Yun vibe for Kleude and Onosaka's page on Aoni sounds EXACTLY like Lemuria)  
> Rose and Aquila- Yuko Mita  
> Nate- Hikaru Midorikawa(his voice is very recognizable, he's definitely Nate)  
> Bian- Yasuhiro Takato  
> Kleude's brother- Michihiro Ikemizu(well now I know how he sounds older than his own big bro, it's pretty freaky, you will never know Kleude is older unless you can understand what Oniisan means)  
> Pooly, Pooly's sensei, some guy in Nate's intro- Takeshi Endo/Yukitoshi Endo I don't really know neither VA has any info at all  
> Leon- Ryo Horikawa(wow relationship casting, Ryo is also Vegeta from DBZ)  
> Baal(neiter is Baal appearing)- Wakana Yamazaki  
> Mari- Kyoko Terase


	43. Chapter 43

12/2/2009

Tonight after we finished all our homework we headed to Ariel’s house to ask about a camera.

Ariel is at her bedroom looking into her computer.

“Hey Ariel whatcha doin?” Jet asked looking at the PC.

“Gasp Jet what will that black haired girl from that weird cartoon with a blue platypus say if she was real?” I pulled his cheeks.

We stared at the mail Ariel is looking at.

“It’s from Lancelot?” I asked.

“Yeah...” said Ariel.

We peered at the letter.

Dear Ariel Vermillion

I got something to ask from you and I hope it’s not a bother to you but have you ever fallen in love?

Lancelot Lakeknight

“Whoa has he fallen in love as well?” Jet asked.

“Yeah...” said Ariel.

“What are you going to tell him?”

“I should tell him and see what he says.”

She typed a reply to Lancelot that yes she has a boyfriend now and she might be able to help him.

“So Ariel do you have a camera?” I asked.

“Why do you want a camera?” she asked.

“Well we are going to see our grandparents tomorrow and err we would like to take pictures...”

“Okay, wait right here, I’ll be right back” she walked out of her room to get a camera.

Jet and I blinked rapidly when a beep sounded off on her computer, we looked at her monitor to see Lancelot has replied.

I sat clicked on his message.

“Naru?” I said.

“That girl dressed up like a Victorian doll?” said Jet.

“...”

Ariel returned “I got the camera” she said, she gasped when she saw me looking at the message, reading it.

“So Lancelot has a thing for his Victorian doll friend” I said.

“Hmm...”

“But according to him, Naru is already dating Subaru.”

“Yes...”

“What are you going to tell him?”

Ariel didn’t reply.

“Ariel are you still upset about-“ she pressed a finger on my lips.

“No of course not, it doesn’t matter anymore but still...”

I sigh as she tried to type a reply, ‘Just wait, maybe Naru might find you might be just the person she trust better than Subaru. I once dated someone else and it turns out that we weren’t made for each other.’

Jet cocked his head “So why did you and Blood break up?” he asked.

Ariel didn’t say anything, did Blood ever tell her why he broke up? All of a sudden I feel like a bastard for taking him away from her.

But he broke up with her long before we ever got together and he couldn’t change the fact he prefers boys instead of girls.

We just headed out of her house as she brood on her computer, taking the camera with us “We’ll take lots of pictures for you and Blood okay?” said Jet before we shut her door.

Dad is packing some things into Mom’s bag in the living room.

“Oh hello Sarah” said Dad, getting up to pick up Sarah.

“Daddy!” Sarah squealed as he spun around.

Jet and I headed to bed when Dad suddenly yelled “Kleude!”

I turned my head “Yes Dad?”

“Get your skinny little ass over here!”

“What does Dad want with you?” Jet whispered.

“I don’t know but I’ll tell you tomorrow” I whispered.

“Now Sarah it’s time for you to head to your room to sleep” said Dad.

“Daddy what are you gonna tell big brother Kleude?” Sarah asked as Dad put her down gently.

“It’s something just for the two of us.”

“Why can’t I stay? I want to know what are you gonna tell big brother Kleude!”

“It’s something only for him to know” he picked up Sarah taking her to our bedroom, when he returned he frowned at me “Kleude you are getting into a big boy now.”

“Yes Dad...” I said.

“You know your mother is getting weaker every day right? And that I spent quite a bit of money on a safe travel for you three to the country right?”

“Yes.”

“You know that if she dies you will have to take care of your brother and sister right?”

I nodded, I looked at Dad’s arms, they are so firm and tanned(and hairy but he’s proud of his body hair I can’t imagine why), I unrolled my sleeve, looking at my wrist.

“You should grow up and toughen up” he got up, glaring at me.

“D-dad...” I trembled as he gripped my shoulders

“You can’t stay the way you are forever you know, you have to grow up, stop playing silly games with your friends and be a real man, your brother and sister will have to depend on you and I have to earn money!”

“Dad t-that hurts...”

“You will have to raise a family when you grow up you know, your Mother wanted that right?”

“Yes...”

“So you better shapen up soon you miserable son of mine or you will have a hard time surviving!” he loosened his grip, heading to Mom’s bedroom.

I stared at Mom and Dad’s bedroom door, is he really right? Am I just holding myself back? Could I be a better brother to Jet and Sarah?

I headed to my bedroom.

“Hey what did Dad say to-“ Jet’s voice fell when he saw me “Big brother?”

“...” I collapsed on the bed.

“Kleude?”

“I-I...”

“Your face looks ghastly! What happened?”

“I-I must grow up strong like Dad...”

“Kleude, what are you saying?”

“I am not a good brother at all...”

“Nonsense you are a great brother and you are a great friend to Ariel and Blood too!”

“But Dad did so much so we don’t starve or suffer.”

“Kleude?”

“Just let me sleep Jet” I rolled on the bed.

Jet didn’t say anymore, heading for his bed with a “Good night big brother, sleep tight.”

I tossed and turned on the bed, it’s difficult to get what Dad said off his head. He did bring a lot to the family to prevent all of us to suffer from being homeless or in welfare and he worked hard to get all of it. He didn’t have an easy life from what I’ve known as well, he was picked on and he never said anything about his parents but he seems very negative about them.

I got out of bed heading to the hallway to walk around to tire myself out, near my parents bedroom I can hear mumbling. I pressed my right ear to the door.

“Dear you’ll see your parents again tomorrow...” said Dad.

“Yeah...”

“I hope the kids will love meeting them as well.”

“If only they could meet your parents as well.”

“Why should they? I don’t ever want to see them again!”

“But you are their son Lloyd and-“

“What did they ever do? They always disrespect everything I do, they just want things to go their way!”

“Maybe they have-“

“I don’t want to talk about my parents Elm, just enjoy meeting yours okay?”

“Lloyd...”

I leaned on the wall next to the door, was Dad’s parents really like that? Could that be the reason why he expects so much from me?

Yet I didn’t do enough to satisfy Dad...

When I headed back to my room I thought about Dad some more, it’s painful for him and he was hurt that I didn’t meet his expectations. I won’t even have a family unless I want to go the dishonest way and run away from myself and he will wonder why I’m not getting a girl.

It was really really late when I finally collapsed to sleep.

13/2/2009

When morning passed Jet and Sarah had to wake me up.

“Hey sleepy head get up” said Jet.

“Happy birthday big brother!” Sarah yelled.

I yawned as Jet pulled me out of bed “We have to get dressed and head for the wagon to Grandma and Grandpa!”

I dozed off so he had to slap me, I could barely register what was going on as Jet helped me get dressed, get my luggage and head to the wagon with Mom.

“Ah there you are” said Mom “Hurry, the driver is going to leave for the country soon!”

“Hurry up” said Jet dragging me into the wagon.

Mom shifted as I collapsed by her side “Whoa didn’t you get enough sleep?” she asked.

“Dad...” I mumbled.

“It’s okay your father will be fine.”

“I disappointed him so...”

“You never disappointed him, he’s just a little cranky from all the work.”

I sigh falling asleep on Mom’s shoulder, I can feel her hands running on my hair as we travelled.

“Cool we’re on the countryside!” Jet yelled.

“Yay!” Sarah cheered.

“But Kleude is still asleep...”

“Aww...”

“It’s okay I’ll just take some pictures for Ariel and Blood.”

My ears perked up and I snapped open my eyes, snatching the camera away from Jet “Whoa talk about a sudden wake up.”

I snapped pictures of the country side shifting sides to and fro, Blood and Ariel shouldn’t miss this at all!

I gasped when the wagon suddenly stopped moving.

“We arrived!” said Mom.

I turned my head to see a little house with a field with cattles and chicken.

We got out of the wagon and headed for the house, Mom knocked on the door “Mama, Papa I’m back home!” she yelled.

“Elm?” said a low voice similar to Mom’s, two people got the door, staring at Mom.

Were they really grandma and grandpa? I thought to myself, they look so young! They already have some grey hair but it’s obvious they are both blonde like Mom(although Grandpa’s hair is a darker shade).

They noticed us and gasped in joy “Oh you have three kids!” said Grandma looking at Jet, Sarah and me “Oh they’re beautiful!”

“Your daughters have grown into lovely little girls” said Grandpa.

“Actually the two older ones are err... boys...” said Mom.

“Huh!?” they looked at Jet and me.

“Well they are rather... cute” said Grandma.

“You seen my eldest son when he was born” said Mom.

Grandma and Grandpa looked at me, feeling my hair “Well you have Elm’s hair and even some of her facial features” said Grandpa.

“Your brother and you look almost like twins” said Grandma patting Jet’s hair when she notice something on his face “But oh where did you get that scar?”

“...” Jet turned away.

“He got into an accident but we don’t want to talk about it now” said Mom.

“Okay...” said Grandma “So let’s go into the house shall we?”

We headed into the house looking at the hallway connecting to a kitchen a living room and some stairs.

“Oh my head...” Mom groaned.  
“Elm are you tired?” Grandpa asked.

“A little...”

“You should rest for a while, it’s not good for you if you stress yourself.”

Mom sigh heading to the living room to lie on a sofa.

“Grandpa is Mom always this weak?” I asked.

“Yes ever since she was born she had a weak body the doctors suspect it could be from being born too early.”

“Grandpa, Mom has got heart cancer in the last two years...”

“W-what!?” Grandpa and Grandma’s eyes widen.

“...” my eyelids lowered.

“How are things going with all of you?” Grandma asked.

“Well we have to manage the house and not let Mom overexert herself.”

Grandpa and Grandma looked at each other before turning back to us “Do you kids want to see the rest of the house before your mother wake up and we head out to town?”

“I wanna see the house!” said Sarah.

“Sure” said Jet.

“Okay” I said.

Grandma and Grandpa cheered as they lead us to the kitchen.

The room is pretty tiny with one counter an old fashioned fireplace and a tiny refrigerator with window.

“Oh it’s so small!” said Sarah.

“Say it’s an old medieval fireplace!” said Jet.

“Your mother loved to cook on this little fireplace with a stove to make stew and roast meat on a spit” said Grandpa.

“Eww Mommy spat on meat?” Sarah asked.

“A spit is a long stick to pierce the meat and put it on an open fire” said Grandma.

“Ohh...”

“You should have seen your mother when she was a little girl trying to cook behind our back even when we warn her not to.”

“...” I looked at the fireplace.

“Do any of you cook?”

“Not really.”

“Your father loved your mother’s cooking he would come to our house everyday to have dinner with us but that’s not the only reason he’d come here.”

“Dad isn’t in good terms with his parents right? Have you ever met them?”

“Yeah we seen them once or twice” said Grandpa “They are pretty prim and proper and were outraged when your parents decided to get married before high school ends.”

“But it doesn’t matter to us” said Grandma.

“Grampa Granma” said Sarah “Did Mommy and Daddy really like each other?”

“Yes they do, they really love each other” Grandma ruffled Sarah’s hair “You look a bit like your father with your mousy hair and large eyebrows.”

“I look like Daddy?”

“If your brothers look more like your mother you look like your father.”

Sarah’s eyes shone as she bounce up and down “I look like Daddy!”

“Okay simmer down Sarah” said Jet picking her up.

“Aww...” she pouted.

We headed for the stairs to a hall with three doors “Over there is our bedroom” said Grandpa pointing to a door at a corner “Over there is where your mother sleeps” he pointed to the center door “And this is the guest bedroom” we headed to the door on the other corner to a rather nice bedroom with about four beds.

“Do you invite anyone over grandpa and grandma?” Jet asked.

“Other than your father not really” said Grandma.

“Oh...”

“Well not like many people visit the countryside around here.”

“Does Dad’s parents still live around here?” I asked.

“Yes.”

“Can I see them?” Sarah asked bouncing up and down

Grandma and Grandpa looked at each other again “Well if you want to...” said Grandpa.

“Hooray!”

I cringed at the thought about our Dad’s parents I don’t think they would like us at all.

“What’s the matter Kleude?” Grandpa asked.

“N-nothing!” I said.

“He’s just nervous about meeting our other grandparents” said Jet.

“...”

Grandma sigh patting me on my back “Your mother was nervous to meet your father’s parents as well.”

“But we should get something to eat first” said Grandpa “Would any of you like eggs and chicken omelette?”

“Sure as long as it’s not fish or spicy” I said.

When we headed downstairs to the kitchen Mom is still resting on the couch, Grandpa approached her instead as the rest of us sat on the kitchen as Grandma got out the eggs, milk and chicken.

“Would any of you like to help me prepare the food?” she asked.

“Ooo the egg is so brown!” said Sarah.

“Would you like to pour the milk?” Grandma handed the milk to Sarah.

“Okay!”

Grandma smiled as Sarah poured milk into the bowl until it filled the top “The food is going to be so milky” said Jet.

“Milk omelette!”

“We’ll pour the milk into glasses instead” said Grandma “But which one of you boys cook?”

“I do” said Jet.

“What about your big brother?”

“He isn’t any good. He can barely understand what to do.”

“Not everyone is going to be a good chef, your father isn’t good either when your mother tried to teach him.”

We giggled as Jet helped Grandma to mix the egg and milk while she pierce the chickens before cutting them up and frying the chickens.

“Smells nice” said a soft voice.

“Ah Elm you’re awake” said Grandma.

“Chicken omelette is it?”

“Yep.”

“The kids would enjoy this before they head to town and see all the shops and houses!”

After the omelettes are prepared we began to eat, I got out the camera to snap a picture of the omelette and glasses of milk before I started eating.

After we finished up we headed to town looking at shops and taking pictures of everything, I’m surprised at how much photos this camera can hold it must be a very expensive camera since we still have a lot of space left.

“Who are you taking these pictures for?” Grandpa asked.

“For our friends” I said.

“Are you going to show it to the girl you like as well?” Mom asked.

I blushed looking at the camera adjusting with the lens we continued our walk to the neighbourhood.

Grandpa and Grandma stopped in front of a plain little white house knocking on the door, two very old people opened the door, they scowled when they saw Grandma and Grandpa, Mom clung to Grandpa.

“Mr and Mrs Oak again” said the old woman.

“Hello again Mr and Mrs Fleming” said Grandma.

“Can you two please leave? You already caused enough uproar as it is.”

“But don’t you want to see your son’s kids?”

“H-hello” Sarah’s voice is shaking a little.

Dad’s parents ignored her as they went ranting to Mom’s parents “If you people didn’t come and tarnish Lloyd even more with your three kids one out of teenage birth out of you two teenage parents yourself from your whore of a daughter Lloyd would have a better life.”

“Dad likes his job...” I said.

“Big brother what does whore means?” Sarah asked.

Jet gasped clamping her mouth “You don’t need to know but it’s a very bad word!”

“How bad is it?”

“Bad enough you shouldn’t learn it.”

“You have no right to speak little girl of a teenage mom” said Dad’s mother.

“I am not a girl...”

“Nothing is wrong with your son and Elm having children young, they love each other” said Mom’s father.

“There is a lot of wrong” said Dad’s father.

“Your daughter should be thinking about her future other than having a family” said Dad’s mother “It isn’t a good example for future children. What if those three girls are going to repeat everything your family does and have babies young instead of aiming for a goal.”

“But Kleude and I are not girls-“ said Jet when Dad’s mother interrupted him.

“Just leave now, we don’t want to see how your families are gonna repeat everything you did like what you did to our son.”

Mom’s parents didn’t say anymore as Dad’s ones slammed the door on us.

“Grampa, Granma they are so scary!” said Sarah clinging to Grandma.

“They are always like that...” said Grandma.

I looked at the door “But do you think what they say could be right? That all of us will have a family young?”

“It doesn’t matter but if you have someone you love and want to start a family it doesn’t matter how young you are Kleude.”

“I don’t want to have a family yet Grandma.”

“Then you can wait until you are ready.”

“But first let’s head to the countryside before dinner” said Grandpa “I’m sure all of you would love it!”

We nodded as we headed off to the country but thoughts about Dad’s parents bothers me, is that why Dad cut ties with them? Were they like this even before he married Mom?

Maybe that’s why he married Mom, she’s about the only person he knew who he feels safe to be around.

Mom sigh when we arrived at the countryside, lying on the grass “Ahh to be in the countryside again...”

Sarah squealed jumping onto the grass rolling around “So soft!” she said.

We sigh walking around the country taking pictures of anything that interest us with Mom enjoying herself sitting on rocks, dipping her hands on the river and picking flowers.

I’d like to pick flowers for the others but they would wilt by the time we return and I can’t pay for getting something to keep them for hours.

When night arrived Jet handed me the camera, it’s almost dinner time but there’s only one shot left, we taken a lot of pictures of the countryside already, I looked at the sky, there are so many beautiful stars and the sky is a lovely dark blue with a moon shining with the beautiful country view, I bet Blood would love this!

I angled the camera to get the best shot and took a photo.

I grinned as I lowered the camera heading back to Grandpa and Grandma’s house for dinner.

Mom, Grandma, Grandpa and Jet prepared the food with Sarah watching and I looked through the cupboard to find some books to read.

I took out a classic book called Silas Marner and read it while the food is prepared.

I was halfway done when dinner is ready, we are having veggie soup, hot lemon and fresh bread.

After dinner we headed to our bedrooms, Sarah took a bath first while Jet and I have to wait.

There was a knock on the door, Jet got the door, Grandma is smiling at us.

“How was your day boys?”

“It was lovely” said Jet.

“Lovely” I said, I shook my head “Grandma why did Mom move to Astterica?”

“Ahh she always wanted to go there and live in that place since it’s less secluded than this place and she wanted to make some friends, your father wanted to go there as well thinking that all of you will at least have friends.”

“Well that didn’t really work at least for Jet and I...”

“What’s the matter?”

“The kids in our school are not friendly but Dad said we should deal with it.”

“Well all of you have to struggle with money you know maybe he’s right about that.”

“Grandma...”

“You still have only two more years don’t worry your parents too much financially, your mother is sick you know at least bear with this then you don’t have to deal with this anymore.”

I didn’t say anymore as Grandma left the room, I didn’t want to recall what the others did to me for years at the moment, I don’t think she will really understand.

Sarah eventually got out of the bathroom dressed in a towel Jet and I headed inside to take a hot bath but it turned out the bathroom is pretty small, I let Jet take a bath first and waited until he’s done.

After I had a nice hot bath I dried myself and headed to Mom’s room.

She’s lying on bed but she wasn’t sleeping or wrapped in a blanket, she smiled when she saw me “Oh hi Kleude” she said.

“Mom how is it here?” I said.

“It’s wonderful to be back at home with Mom and Dad again and to introduce them to all of you as well” her face looks very white.

“Mom?” I clutched her shoulders

“Maybe that might be the last time I ever see of them...”

“Mom don’t give up now, we will try to get you through this! You will see Grandpa and Grandma again a-and-” I stopped realizing that my grip might be too hard on her.

“I hope you are right... I feel rather weak...”

“Do you need to rest?”

“Sure...” I released my hands, pulling up the blanket for her, heading back to the guest room to call it a day.

The next day we had breakfast, Mom was chatting to Grandpa and Grandma and even smiled when we had to say goodbye but when as soon as the cart rode off she began to cry again.

“Mommy why are you crying?” Sarah asked.

“I-I will never see Mom and Dad ever again... I’m sure of it” she said.

“You can see Granma and Grampa anytime you want!”

“No I will never see them again!”

“You will see them again Mom!” Jet and I yelled “We are doing everything we can so you will make it!”

Mom sniffed looking at us “I guess you are right, maybe I will make it and see them again...” she smiled “Maybe I will be able to see you kids with a family as well and see-”

“Of course you will Mom” I interrupted “Just don’t give up now!”

She sigh putting her arms around us whispering some words as we arrive home.


	44. Chapter 44

14/2/2009

It’s wonderful to be back at home, Jet, Sarah and I visited Ariel with Blood invited over to show our photos on the computer after unpacking everything.

Ariel and Blood shuffled through the photos “These are beautiful!” said Ariel.

“Oh man I wish I could have went with you three” said Blood.

“Thank you for taking the trouble for taking those pictures for us” said Ariel.

“No problem” said Jet.

“So what shall we do now?” Blood asked.

“Well it’s Valentine’s day...”

“Oh yeah, shall we play some romance games on Ariel’s computer?”

“Does she have anything that isn’t adult only?” I asked.

“Mom buys a lot of adult games” said Ariel “She doesn’t seem to mind when I take them from her room.”

“So I’m guessing no?”

“Hmm let me check if the online has some free family safe romance games.”

We glanced at the PC as she went to a few online game sites.

“Oooo they look so interesting!” said Sarah.

“Sorry but no children playing games” said Jet.

“Aww I can’t play?”

“I’m afraid not...” Sarah blew a raspberry in disappointment “Why don’t you read some books or play on the N64 instead?”

“Okay!” Sarah headed for the N64 to play with the game already on the machine(Mario Party 3) while we looked at the dating sims.

“There are a few girls love games” said Ariel.

“Ew Mom and Dad said lesbians are horrible people” said Jet.

“They are wrong then.”

“How can two girls get at it together, they don’t have anything to insert into their private part other than their fingers” I cringed at what Jet was saying, sex talk again...

Ariel sigh, disabling girls date girls and boys date boys tags.

I glanced at Ariel as she looked up various game, she doesn’t seem to mind lesbians, should I tell her about my relationships?

Then again I’ve known a lot of them hate gays...

“Let’s try this game!” said Blood pointing to one of the games on the computer.

Ariel nodded selecting Cherry Battles.

“War, boy pursues girl?” said Jet.

“I hope there’s lots of awesome battles!” said Blood.

“Hmm never played boy pursue girls before” said Ariel.

“You need an account though”

Ariel put the username OceanBlue, added her email and a password.

“Whoa look at that girl’s eyes!” I said.

“So big” said Blood.

“Like frog eyes” I made puking noises.

“And their hair is soooooo shiny...”

“Insert your hero’s name here” said Jet.

“What shall we name him?” Ariel asked.

“How about Valentines?”

“Nah we should name him Mario, Mario is such a total pimp! He got two princesses to kiss him” said Blood.

“Or Tuxedo Mask” I said.

“Nah that guy does nothing but throw roses everywhere.”

“Hmm...” Ariel mumbled.

“You got a name Ariel?”

Ariel didn’t reply just typing out a name.

“Choro Q?” we said.

“It’s some brand of toy cars I saw in a display...” she said.

“Okay...” I said.

The narrator began to drone for minutes about the world when finally we see an actual background.

“So pink” I said.

“Ew pink!” said Blood.

“I think yellow is a thousand times worse...”

“But your hair is yellow!”

“I know, I wish I had brown hair instead...”

“But your hair is a very nice shade of yellow Kleude” said Ariel.

I sigh fiddling with my hair. I know Blood likes my hair a lot but still I sometimes like to think I am not a dumb blonde.

“Whoa a golden haired girl!” said Blood.

“Her hair is so long...” said Jet.

“Longer than even mine” said Ariel.

“And her eyes are soooo big” said Blood “It’s like they’re staring through my soul...”

“They’re tinted, what colour could it be? Blue or green?”

“Probably blue, her pupils are dark blue.”

“But god her voice!” I said “It’s like Princess Peach!”

“Yeah it’s super annoying” said Blood.

After some talk the hero walked to a path also littered with cherry blossoms, he saw another girl on his way.

This girl has long black hair hitting the floor and very white skin, she looks almost like a ghost.

I frowned looking at my own ghastly white hands, how do some people get a nice tan while others stay white as a ghost?

The hero and the girl didn’t speak as the hero passed by.

But for whatever reason almost everywhere he goes there are girls everywhere.

“Wow so many girls...” I said.

“The average guy would be so happy to see so many girls” said Blood.

“Except for my brother” Jet groaned “He seems so adverse to girls...”

“What’s wrong with that?” I asked.

“Remember that Mom wants you to have a family.”

“Oh...” I turned away, Mom would be heartbroken to know I don’t want a family...

After we met every girl an opening with crappy looking 3D with girls with bulging eyes and dancing popped up.

“Oh my god so many frog faces” I said.

“So glassy...” said Blood.

“Their skins are so shiny...” said Ariel.

“I wonder how our adventure will go” said Jet.

“I hope there will be lots of battles!” said Blood pumping his fist “It will be awesomeness!”

“Will it be a sweet tender romance with the hero and the girl he picks?”

“It will be so romantic...” Jet nodded at Blood.

We didn’t say anymore as we looked at the computer.

“So who shall we pick?” Blood asked.

“Hmm let’s try the first girl” said Ariel.

“Okay!”

We continued playing for two hours until it’s time to head back home.

“Man I realize something” said Blood “There’s no war at all, we are just talking to that girl Mamiya or whatever her name is.”

“Well it is a dating Sim” said Jet.

“Yeah but it could have a lot of battles where your girl and you stop chaos from happening!”

I sigh patting his head “Too bad...”

“Oh and happy Valentine’s day to all of you!”

I gasped as he put his arms around all of us before we headed back home.

Mom is in the living room lying on the cushion, Sarah rushed to cuddle Mom “Mommmy!” she cried.

“Ah Sarah...” Mom ruffled Sarah’s pigtails, smiling.

“Happy Valentine’s Day” I said.

“Valentine’s day Valentine’s day!” Sarah screamed.

Mom petted Sarah again, readjusting her ears.

I notice Mom looks pale and thin, I can see her joints poking out.

After some cuddling with Sarah, Jet and Sarah headed for bed but I stayed behind, there is something I wanted to talk to her...

She noticed I was still in the room with her “Kleude what’s the matter?” she asked.

“Y-you are getting so thin and pale Mom...” I said.

“It’s all the therapy I have to take, don’t stress so much.”

“But Mom what if you don’t make it, you are getting weaker and weaker, what if you-“ I collapsed on her arms, fighting back tears.

“Don’t worry so much...” her voice is weak and hoarse.

“But Jet and Sarah will be upset as well a-and-“

“I will do my best to make it, just relax and-“ she let out a hoarse cough, gripping my shoulders to keep her balance “But Jet and Sarah will have to depend on you if I don’t make it...”

“Yeah b-but...”

“I’m sure you can manage, you are a good boy.”

I pulled away from Mom looking at her.

“You will manage, what your Dad said is wrong, you don’t have to be tough, you need to be caring to your family.”

I nodded heading for my bedroom “Goodnight Mom.”

She smiled at me, her cheek bones getting very pronounced, she’s getting so weak yet she’s still so hopeful...


	45. Chapter 45

20/3/2009

I panicked in class as the science teacher handed Moton and I a group project.

The first thing that happened was that Moton hit me with his book “Listen you useless good for nothing lazy cat, we have a project to do and if you fail, it will bring my grade as well got it?”

“Y-yes Moton...” I said.

Moton grunted, working on the project, there were snickers from the other table, I groaned slamming my face on the table.

During break I worked on the project in a corner in the cafeteria, Eku, Taro, Leslie and some of their other friends are gossiping nearby.

“Cool you are gonna get a laptop for your birthday?” said one of the goons.

“Yeah, I’m gonna get a race car as well but I can’t drive that until I’m eighteen” Eku stamped her foot “Boo this place is no fun, I would so love to drive on my sixteenth birthday!”

“Yeah!” said the goons.

“Ahh to be in a car with you boys...” she smirked, looking at me, I pretended to ignore her, focusing on my slice of watermelon “Having mind blowing sex to make that effeminate cat oh so jealous...”

“Ooo you are thinking about something” said Taro.

“Yeah, it will be great to be in a car completely bare and have so many fingers on me...”

“I want to have a lot of girls with me on my birthday” said Taro.

“Will you tell us about your experience then?” Eku’s eyes were gleaming.

“Sure as long as you tell yours as well.”

“What car do you want to get Eku?” Leslie asked.

“A lovely silver car would be great, I even told Mom and Dad about it.”

“When you can drive that car will you let me take a ride with you?”

“As long as you don’t damage the paint work.”

“I won’t damage the paintwork I promise.”

Eku smiled at Leslie petting her head, she glanced at me with a very suspicious looking smile “Oh look at that poor lonely kitty sitting alone in a corner...”

“He looks so sad!”

I grumbled, here they go again, I got up to go eat somewhere further away.

They were snickering as I went past them, but everyone else on the other tables were also staring at me like I was an alien or something.  
They were still staring at me as I sat on another corner to eat.

After I finished eating I concentrated on the project, my head is aching as I worked on the project, I’m tired from all the cleaning and studying and I just want to rest. But I have to study hard and not just for that Moton to shut his big mouth.

My head was feeling fuzzy when the bell rang for the rest of school, I practically cheered inside my head when it’s time to go home even though I have to clean up again.

On the way out of school I saw Taro talking to some of his girlfriends blocking the gate, they were getting excited about wanting to head to bed with him.

Well mostly, Elesa seems pretty down.

Taro patted her shoulders reassuring he loves her. As much as the other girls.

When they went their separate path back I have to go past Elesa, she still seems pretty upset.

She frowned when she saw me staring at her “What do you want? Go away!”

I turned away walking past her.

“You are a freak...” she said, I stopped my movement trembling as she continued “What is up with you? You don’t want to mix with other people, you look like a woman, you are so unmanly, what is wrong with you!?”

“...”

“And is it true you really like guys!?”

“...” I buried my face in my school bag.

“That’s just wrong, guys don’t date guys, how are you going to do that!? You both have cocks!”

“I-I...”

“They are right, you are a freak! The other cat folks are not like you!”

“I know I’m not like the rest of you b-but I don’t want to run away from myself and deny who I am!” I ran away as far as I can away from Elesa, I don’t care what they say, I don’t want to live my life being someone else!

I stopped when I felt a sharp pain on my head, I should head for an early bed tonight.

“Hello there...” said a familiar deep voice.

I turned my head, Red is approaching Elesa...

“W-what do you want?” she asked.

“Taro is not a very good boyfriend for you” said Red.

“What do you know!? He has always been kind to me and he said that he loves me very much!”

“You wouldn’t get anywhere with a fat ugly slob like him” gees wait til Taro hears this...

“B-but he is always so-“

“Hang out with me...”

“W-what!?”

“I am a much better company than him, you will have a lot of pleasure.”

Elesa gasped, is she going to fall for him?

She took his hand, she’s falling for his temptations!

I pity what will happen to her even if she’s not my friend, she’s going to be so heartbroken and maybe even pregnant...

20/4/2009

The day for handing out the assignment is ready, even after a month of resting early every night I still felt tired, I can barely concentrate checking my assignment, I’m not sure if anything is right or wrong.

I waited for the teacher to mark my assignment, resting on the desk.

There was a suddenly rumble on my desk waking me up.

Moton has a very ugly scowl on his face as he slammed a piece of paper on my desk, I took the paper from his hand.

My eyes widened at the mark I got 30 out of 100...

“You lazy good for nothing fucker, what did you just do in the past month?” he asked.

“...”

“Were you necking around with random boys down the street instead of studying?”

“I was studying, I studied a lot!”

“So why is your grade so bad?”

I groaned, clutching my head “Please Moton I’m tired now...”

“You are a weakling getting tired when you barely study. I study as much as I can and I’m just fine.”

I slammed my face on the desk, I just want some peace in school but if it’s not Eku, Leslie, Taro and Red(though Red just spends his time being a sleazebag and telling everyone how heterosexual he is lately much to the annoyance of the other three) it’s Moton being oh so smart and perfect telling me I’m lazy and useless.

On the cafeteria I sat on a corner like usual to eat, it’s kind of Mom to make strawberry omelette even though she’s weak and tired. Of course I took a carrot out as usual. I began to bite on the carrot enjoying the sweet yet slightly bitter taste.

The girls on the table nearby were talking to each other, they were all talking to Elesa for some reason.

“Hey are you feeling alright Elesa?” a dog girl asked.

“Yeah just a bit sickish...” said Elesa “Don’t worry, I’ll be better.”

“But you are going to the toilet so often!” said a fat girl.

“Don’t worry about me so much” she gagged and rushed out of the cafeteria.

One of my ears twitched, it reminded me of something so familiar that happens regularly in school...

Elesa returned clutching her stomach, could she be pregnant? What is Taro going to say if he knew...

“You should see a doctor Elesa, this can’t be healthy” said a dark skinned girl.

Elesa gasped “See a doctor?”

“Yeah you might be suffering from something, at least have a check up.”

They didn’t say anymore during the rest of the break.

25/4/2009

For the next few days everything is back to normal, chaotic, me skipping school most of the time, I was skipping school again hanging out on the forest.

Mom would be upset to know if she ever found out and I don’t even want to think what Dad would say! It’s bad enough Jet and Blood know about this.

Speaking of Blood, has Ariel transferred school yet? I never asked her about it, is she happy in this new school?

Sarah is very happy, making lots of friend inviting them to our house once a week, it gets way too cramped for my liking and I prefer to stay over at Blood or Ariel’s house until its Sarah’s curfew.

Well I have to visit Blood at times since Jet often takes Ariel out to the park for dates and he doesn’t want me around during then, I didn’t mind I don’t want to see them act all lovey dovey.

Blood and I can’t really do much since I don’t us to be caught by my family, we are restricted to hugging and occasional kisses in his room, his mother told us she didn’t mind but we don’t want to that kind of stuff in front of anyone.

But I don’t want to hide our relationship from everyone and I’m sure Blood doesn’t want to but we have to, Jet is lucky that Ariel is a girl, he might get married to her and maybe have a family. I’m stuck with hiding my relationship forever...

But I wonder about Sarah, is she going to fall for anyone? She seems so innocent.

After school I left the forest to meet up Jet at home, we have to do chores.

On the way I caught Elesa telling something to Red handing a slip of paper to him.

Red grunted, slapping her on the face, sending her flying to the ground and he tossed the paper a few feet away from them walking away.

It’s painful to see Elesa break down into tears crying “No! If Taro knew about this... But I don’t want to kill an innocent life... maybe Red will realize how painful this is...”

Too bad he won’t, just like the other girls, you are no different Elesa.

Jet arrived shortly after “Hello big brother!” I waved back to him, when he noticed Elesa “Hey what’s the matter with her?”

“Same deal as all the other girls in class who ran into Red” I said.

“She’s pregnant?”

“Yeah...”

“What is she going to do? I know that getting pregnant in school will cause an uproar in her family.”

“Probably think she can change Red and keep the baby because she doesn’t want to kill it.”

“She’s going to be hurt big brother!” he gripped my shoulders, shaking me “We can’t let his go on and on!”

“How is it going to stop? The school doesn’t care and his friends doesn’t care what he does. Well they do, but it’s more from him not spending time with them then the fact he is making everyone else miserable.”

“At least we should make thing girl realize she will be hurt!” he rushed to Elesa who is still crying “Don’t fall for Red’s charm!”

“Who are you-“ she shrieked when she saw Jet “Oh no, you’re that brother of that freak!”

“Kleude is not a freak, but are you really pregnant by Red?”

“Mind your own business, what if I am!?”

“That guy doesn’t care for anyone, he asked my girlfriend on a date whenever he sees her and tries to convince her that he is a better choice. She won’t buy it and I’m glad, please don’t stop trying to think you can cure him.”

“He’s just troubled, I’m sure being understanding to him will heal his wounds!”

“No it won’t have you seen what happened to all those girls before you?”

“They just wanted him for sex.”

“But...”

“They don’t understand him at all! I want to know him better, I want to carry his child even if it means...” she slapped Jet, running away.

I sigh as Jet felt the scar on his cheek “I told you it won’t work” I said.

“But still, what will happen to her...”

“I hate to know...”

We stared at each other before heading back home, it will not end well for her and there’s nothing anybody can do about it...


	46. Chapter 46

5/5/2009

A lot of cleaning to do in the house, but I still feel exhausted even though I skipped visiting Blood and Ariel during weekdays for an early bedtime.

I yawned as I dusted the table.

“Big brother you look so sleepy” said Sarah.

“It’s okay I’m just a little tired from all the studying and cleaning up...” I said.

“Sarah don’t bother him while he’s cleaning” said Jet.

“But big brother looks so tired, he should rest!”

“How about you help him clean up a little?”

“Huh?”

“If you want to help him, maybe you can clean up a little?”

“Why can’t you clean up?”

“I have to do the cooking so you don’t starve little missy...”

Sarah scratched her head “Okay maybe I’ll clean up a little.”

“Good idea, since you might have to take care of the house when you get older.”

“Why?”

Jet and I didn’t admit the reason why he said that, I told him I won’t go to college and go for a job as a manga author so I will have to work to meet deadlines and have less time to clean up the house.

“Sarah if you clean up the house our big brother will be very happy with you.”

“Okay!” she grabbed my wiping rag to wipe the table “I am gonna make this squeaky clean and nice!”

“Err Sarah the table is already clean...” I said.

“Oh my it is clean!”

“The window is a bit dirty...”

“Time to make the window nice and shiny!” she rushed to the window with the rag to wipe on the window.

I sigh getting the cleaning material for her.

“You should rest Kleude” said Jet.

“...”

“Shall we go visit one of our friends today? Ariel or Blood?”

“Blood would be nice...”

However Blood wasn’t in his house today so we have to visit Ariel instead.

She’s in her house fortunately.

We greeted each other, looking at what Ariel is playing.

“Another visual novel?” I asked.

“Yeah, I’m halfway through this already, it’s really dark” she said.

“Hmm dark?”

“The hero lost one of his eyes in the intro when he has to save his sister who died before he could even reach her so he went insane and went on a murder spree when a girl tried to calm him down. She is still trying to help him but he won’t listen.”

“Something tells me it’s only going to end with death...”

Ariel frowned, scrolling through the text before she was prompt to save the game.

“So what are you two doing here?”

“Taking a break.”

“So what shall we do tonight?” Jet asked.

“What do you two want to do? Play video games? Read books? Go out somewhere?”

“How about some video game?” I said.

She shut off her PC to look through her shelf.

“What’s this little white console?” I asked “I don’t remember seeing it before.”

“It’s a Wii” said Ariel “I heard it’s a really good console and bought it to try out with some classmates.”

“Classmates...” I snapped my fingers “Oh yeah, didn’t you say you have to transfer to a new school once you hit your teens?”

“Yes.”

“Where are you anyway?”

“Gunrock.”

Somehow that name sounds familiar... it occurred to me, that’s the school Blood attends to!

“Isn’t that the school Blood goes to?”

“Yes, but I am not his classmate, Dad told me to invite some classmates to my house once a week to make new friends.”

“Did you like them?” Jet asked.

“One or two.”

“I wish I had some more friends to hang out with...”

I looked at Jet, it’s my fault...

Jet suddenly squealed pulling out a game off the shelf, Super Smash Bros Brawl or whatever it’s called.

“Hey isn’t that Mario?” I asked.

“Yeah, shall we try the game?”

He popped the game into the console, Ariel got these TV remote like controllers for us.

Jet handed me the controller with the left most of the four buttons at the bottom flashing.

“You two should try adventure mode” said Ariel.

“Okay” I said.

“But what about you Ariel?” Jet asked.

“You can only have up to two players at a time” said Ariel “We’ll switch 2P for one 1P after each match and the one who wasn’t playing will be 2P and so on.”

“Okay...”

It starts with a cutscene or Mario and some pink ball of fluff turning from figurines into actual characters.

“Man if Blood was here he would be so excited” I said.

“So who do we pick?” Jet asked.

“I want to be Mario, I have no idea who this pink ball is.”

All of a sudden both of us are in the match both as Mario although Jet’s one is a different colour from mine.

“Kirby huh?” I said.

“He’s so slooooow” said Jet.

As we were beating up Kirby he was sent flying in the air when he landed and suddenly opened his big mouth.

“Whoa he’s turning into a vacuum cleaner!” Jet yelled.

“He will gain whatever features the character he swallows have and get a skill that character also have” said Ariel.

“Ohhh...”

Kirby swallowed my Mario and gained Mario’s cap but Jet managed to send Kirby into the air and got him to vanish in the sky.

A cutscene started and we watch a Petey capture two Princesses, one being the familiar(and annoying) Peach and another is a less stereotypical looking princess with brown hair in a purple dress.

I handed my controller to Jet and he handed his controller to Ariel when the cutscene ended.

“Gees Kirby?” I said.

“Who shall we save?” Ariel asked “We can only pick one Princess at a time.”

“How about that other princess?” I said “She looks less of a bubble head than Peach.”

“Nah Peach has been kidnapped so often” said Jet.

“Peach it is then” said Ariel.

And the two of them focused on her cage ignoring poor Zelda.

The battle ended once the cage containing Peach is destroyed and Mario and Peach joined our team!

However for the next stage we have a choice of Mario and some boy dressed like an angel.

“Who shall you pick?” Ariel asked me.

“Well I like Mario but I think I want to try someone new...” I picked the boy.

Ariel also picked the boy.

“What kind of name is Pit?” I said.

“Two boys with wings!” said Jet.

We went through the entire level attacking creatures, collecting random stuff and heading off to face another bigger creature until it ends.

It was the same procedure during the entire game to be honest, we stopped at point Donkey Kong and his nephew appeared.

“This game is a bit dull” I said.

“You don’t like it?” Ariel asked.

“All we do is attack generic looking monsters over and over again, collect trophies and reach the finishing line.”

“So what do you want to do?”

“How about we take a walk outside in the park?”

“Sure.”

We shut off the Wii and headed outside the house to the park.

I sigh at all the couples walking about on the park feeding some birds nearby.

Jet and Ariel were smiling at each other, holding hands, I turned away from them, let them have some moment to enjoy themselves, I’m not going to interfere.

I brushed my hair off my eyes when some familiar voices attracted my attention.

Eku and Taro are talking to someone, it’s not my business at all.

But another person talking to them is what caught my attention, it was a familiar loud voice that always calms me down, what is Blood doing talking to them?

I approached the voices, Ariel and Jet noticed at once “Kleude where are you going?” Jet asked.

“Blood’s in the park and he’s talking to some of my classmates” I said.

“Huh? What is going on?”

They followed me along as I followed the conversation as it got louder and louder.

It soon became clear what was going on, Blood was talking about me.

“You are wrong Kleude is not weird or wrong!”

I stopped at his words, Blood you are helping me...

“Kleude are you okay?” Ariel asked.

“Blood is...” I collapsed on the ground “He’s helping me...”

“Hey get up” said Jet.

“He is so kind to me and all I ever do is take him for granted!”

“He likes you a lot you know, don’t say such things!”

“Oh so you must be weird as well” said Eku.

“Yeah you two must be happily getting it on like little rabbits” said Taro.

“Ooohhh you are onto something Taro...”

“Wahahaha look at his flushed face!”

I frowned, I will not have them talking bad to Blood especially not in front of him!

“Whoa he’s mad now...” said Ariel.

“Yeah...” said Jet.

“Don’t you two dare insult him!” I yelled.

“Oh that cat is here” said Taro.

“Le gaspe, he’s actually defending one of his little whore partners?” said Eku putting on a dramatic pose.

“We don’t have sex with each other!” said Blood.

“Ooo denial...”

“You are the one in denial!”

“Blood let’s just leave right now...” I said when Eku suddenly grabbed my ears, I cried as she yanked at them.

“Ooo running away like a little chicken, you should have been a chicken boy instead.”

“Yeah cockledoodledoo!” Taro smirked.

“He’s not a chicken!” Blood yelled “You two are the real chickens!”

Eku shrieked slapping him “I am not a coward you fool!”

“Yes you are! You think he’s weird because he’s different from all of you, you are the one who refuse to accept anything!”

“Whoa this is getting intense...” Jet voice barely blarred nearby.

Eku gnashed her teeth, punching Blood this time “Shut up you little midget, I am not being a coward, he is weird!”

Blood frowned as she punched him crying hysterically.

I tried to yank him away but Eku scratched me when I got too close.

Eku eventually collapsed crying “You are mean I hate you!”

“Stop making fun of him, just stop it’s just the way he is” said Blood.

“But I’m not in the wrong, he can stop it and be like the rest of us!”

“Yeah Eku is never wrong” said Taro.

“B-but-“ Blood let out a hoarse cough before he could finish.

I dragged him away as Eku is crying and Taro is trying to comfort her.

“Blood you really should stop” I said.

“Yeah but I can’t stand knowing that they are picking on you every day in school.”

“They won’t accept anything other than their own opinions.”

“But that isn’t right, you are suffering so much from this!”

“... It’s only two more years Blood...”

I helped him keep his balance as he coughed.

“Blood do you need to go to the hospital?” Ariel asked.

“No, I just need a rest at home, just take me to Mom...”

He told us where his mother is, she panicked when she saw Blood all bruised up and said they must head home.

“Blood...” I mumbled.

“He will be okay” said Jet.

“But he sure likes you a lot to defend you like that...” said Ariel.

“...” I rushed to Blood and his mother as they headed back home.

“Oh Kleude why are you following us?” Mrs Maverick asked.

“Blood will be okay right?” I asked.

“Don’t worry so much” said Blood “It’s just some bruises.”

“Yeah but...”

He smiled stroking one of my ears “I wish something could be done to those bullies...”

“Just let it go, once I finish school I don’t need to see them anymore.”

“B-but...”

“Please Blood, I don’t want them to hurt you as well...”

He sigh breaking away from me, following his mother back home.

It’s just two more years, I can make it I really can, please stop trying to convince them otherwise Blood.


	47. Chapter 47

17/6/2009

Eku is throwing a tantrum in school for whatever reason.

“Hey what’s the matter?” one of her goons asked.

“Damn Mom and Dad I hate them!” she screamed.

“What did they do?” Taro asked “Did they cancel all your credit cards?”

“They gave me a silver sports car... with racing stripes!”

“Oh my goodness!”

“How dare they, it’s ruining that flawless look!”

I giggled as I sipping a carton of milk, some of the milk spilling down my chin.

“What are you laughing about slut?”

“You are being such a brat.”

“I am not a brat!”

I backed off, are one of her goons going to hit me for offending her?

I realize something where is Leslie? Is she absent for the day or something?

“Hey where is your chirpy friend?” I asked.

“I don’t know, why do you want to know?”

“Well she’s always with you.”

“Well she’s absent, that little bitch.”

All of a sudden there were some screams across the cafeteria.

Leslie arrived holding a drill but she wasn’t smiling, in fact she’s crying.

“About time you are here, listen Leslie you don’t just hide in school while I-“ Eku gasped when Leslie suddenly lifted her drill up.

“D-Daddy was killed by Mommy!” she cried “The doctors said he won’t come back!”

Eku suddenly went pale, approaching Leslie “Your father died?”

“But Mommy said that men are indestructible, the doctors must be lying!”

“Err Leslie...”

“It’s a lie lie lie!” she turned on the drill approaching her friends.

“Whoa we gotta run now!” Taro yelled.

“B-but” said Eku.

“She’s gone mad!”

Everyone else also got up and ran away, I ran away as well before she could get close to me.

Everyone ran out of the campus as Leslie ran with her drill, drilling holes on the ground “Mommy hit me when Daddy died, she was so sad Daddy is gone now.”

She was still inside the campus when we headed outside.

I stared at the window as Leslie drilled on one of the classrooms wall, did her father really die? Why is she attacking the entire class now?

The teachers and Principal arrived in the class Leslie is in.

“What are you doing!?” the principal asked “Why is everyone gone?”

“You are immortal right?” Leslie asked.

“What are you on about girl?” he screamed when Leslie pointed her drill at his direction.

“Mommy said men are indestructible, I will drill all of you and see how true it is!”

“Stop it, you will be expelled in this school little missy!”

I gulped as Leslie tried to attack the teachers, we should call the police!

I headed off the campus to find the closest telephone booth I can find, Jet followed me to help.

I looked through my purse, there’s only 5 tamu inside, I stuck it inside the telephone.

“Hello Asterrica cops here” said some voice.

I tried to reply back but I found myself tongue tied, Jet took the phone from me “Hello this is a student from Mislead school, can you come over, there’s a girl attacking the whole school with a drill. No really, there is a girl attacking the whole school with a drill, thanks bye” he put down the phone.

“...”

“It’s okay the cops will arrive as soon as they can.”

“Oh my god what is Leslie doing!?” Eku yelled.

Everyone including Jet and I looked at the window.

The teachers somehow managed to get the drill away from her.

“Now don’t you go around with dangerous tools anymore missy” said a teacher.

“You are all mean I hate all of you!” Leslie screamed.

“We will tell your parents to come take you home.”

“No!” she ran off the classroom pushing all of the teachers away.

“Get back here, you are not running away!” the teachers followed her out of the classroom.

We gasped, what is Leslie going to do? Run away from school?

Fifteen minutes later one of the kids cried “Look up there!”

We looked up on the roof, Leslie is walking on the corner.

“Now girl stop being a baby” said one of the teachers.

“Shut up I hate all of you!” she screamed.

“Leslie what are you doing?” Eku asked.

Leslie looked at all of us, what is she up to now?

The police arrived, they asked the students where is the girl with a drill.

“On the r-rooftop...” said Eku.

Some of the police head into the campus while the others called to her.

“What do you want!?” Leslie asked “Leave me alone.”

“Please stop attacking the school, just calm down” said a cop.

“No! You don’t know what happened! I want Daddy back!”

“What is this girl on about?” one of the cops asked.

“Her father died...” said a classmate.

“Your father won’t come back, you have to accept it!”

Leslie suddenly stopped, she broke into tears “Daddy really won’t come back!?”

“No, now just calm down and-“

“I want to be with Daddy!” she approached the corner.

“No Leslie don’t!” Eku yelled.

“Goodbye everyone, I will join Daddy again!” she cried as she approached the corner closer and closer.

Eku covered her eyes in fear when the police arrived to stop her from jumping off the roof.

Leslie was hysterical when she was taken into a police car “What are you doing!?” she yelled “I want to be with Daddy!”

“I’m sure your father will be upset if you died” said the cop.

“B-but...”

We didn’t hear anymore as the car drove away, what is going to happen to her now?

We told Mom about what happened.

“Oh my I hope they do something about that girl” she said.

Tonight Jet headed to Ariel house while I headed for Blood’s, I told him about it while we had dinner.

“That girl who is always hanging around with that long haired bitch just snapped in school!?” Blood yelled.

I nodded.

“Oh man I wonder what is going to happen to her...”

“I hate to know...”

We didn’t say anymore as we finished up dinner and head to his bedroom.

“What shall we play tonight?” he asked.

“You pick.”

“Hmm I don’t really have anything to play tonight” he sat on his bed groaning I sigh massaging his shoulders “Ahh that feels nice...” he grinned at me “Hey why don’t you rest?”

“Rest?”

“Jump on my bed, you look tired out.”

“B-but...”

“Don’t worry, just rest and relax.”

I slipped onto his bed, it’s a bit of a tight fit since it’s so narrow.

He grinned at me, shuffling a bit so I got a bit of room, we still have to squeeze next to each other though.

“Imagine a life where we live together” he said.

“We can’t live together, Dad will find out you know” I said.

“But just imagine if we do, we could spend time in the house reading, playing video games, cuddle with each other and invite the others from time to time” he lowered himself so his head is on my chest.

“That would be nice...”

“I want to be as tall as you when I grow up!”

“Bloody?”

“How did you get such long legs? I want to be tall too!”

“...”

“I’m tired of being so short, I don’t want to be short! I want to be like Dad!”

“It doesn’t matter how short you are or even if you are never going to be taller than Ariel...”

“...” he cuddled his head on my chest.

I smiled, putting my arms around his head, he’s cute as it is, I don’t care how tall he is. Blood is Blood.

After half an hour of snuggling we got out of bed, I stretched out my arms with a loud groan.

“Feeling better?”

“Yeah...”

He smiled at me “Great!”

I grinned giving him a high five, I took note of our hands contrasting each other, his thick fingers with my longer thinner ones.

I still can remember what happened earlier in school but somehow just being with him calms me down a lot.


	48. Chapter 48

24/6/2009

School was temporarily shut down for a week after what happened, Jet and I were glad to be free from school for one week.

But alas school has to reopen.

For once it was silent, normally I would have cheered inside but this time I know it’s from what happened last week.

Moton doesn’t seem very concern however as he droned on about how studying is so important.

In the cafeteria, Eku is crying.

“Cheer up Eku it’s your birthday today” said one of the goons.

“Yeah we will make sure you have a great night in your house” said another goon.

“B-but Leslie won’t be there to celebrate, I won’t ever see her for a very long time!” Eku screamed.

“It doesn’t matter, she’s just another person to hang out with” said Taro.

Eku suddenly slammed the table and smacked Taro “Shut up! She’s my best friend and she’s been taken to the cops and they sent her to some place for insane people where no one except families are allowed inside! Her Mom got arrested and they will send her to that home as well!” she stormed out of the cafeteria in a rage, she stopped when she saw Red entering the cafeteria, plugging her nose “Eww you smell like sex!”

“Whatever...” he said.

“Don’t you ever bother cleaning up your fluids when you are done?”

“Doesn’t matter.”

“Why do you keep going off to spend the night with almost every girl you see!? Why don’t you hang out with us anymore!? Are you secretly gay and trying to hide it?”

Red suddenly approached Eku and slapped her “I am not gay, I am perfectly 100% heterosexual.”

“...”

Red huffed at her approaching the group.

“Listen Red if that is all you are ever going to do instead of hanging out with us, you can leave my group anytime you want!”

“Humph I don’t care, women are just good for sex” he got out of his seat with all the goons watching him.

I got out of the corner I’m eating lunch in when everyone else left, so Leslie is taken somewhere since she’s insane...

Somehow on the one hand I’m glad to never see her again on the other hand I feel sorry for what happened to her. I never knew much about her mother.

After school I encountered Eku and some of her goons in the football field, the first thing I note is their clothes are on the grass piling up, I gasped, they must be doing it now.

I covered my eyes when moaning and gasps passed by, running away from what was going on.

“Gees what a wuss running away from something like this” said one of the goons.

“Hey why are you running away?” I turned my head, Jet is looking at me before he turned to look at what was going on by the fields, his face turned red as a beetroot as he passed by.

“Sorry you had to see my classmates naked and getting it on” I said.

“Gees they’re doing that on public in the fields?”

“Well it’s her sixteenth birthday.”

“That was still weird.”

“...”

When we arrived home there is an obnoxious strong stinging scent in the house.

“Ew Mom what is that smell-“ I shut my eyes from the stinging pain.

“Ah welcome home!” said Mom.

“Mom what is that strong smell?” Jet asked.

“I was cooking while all of you went to school all sort of exciting recipes I never tried before.”

“W-why is the s-smell s-so obnoxious?” I coughed.

“They are all spicy dishes.”

“S-spicy!?”

“I made a lot of those, maybe your friends would like it?”

“Err...” the last I recalled Blood and Ariel never had spicy food before... Sarah and I certainly don’t like spicy food but I don’t know about them.

We invited Blood and Ariel for dinner but they refused when we told them it was a spicy dinner.

However Ariel’s father and Blood’s mother actually wanted to come over claiming they love spicy food.

During dinner Jet, Mom, Mr Vermillion and Mrs Maverick dig into all that spicy dish, Jet isn’t fond of spicy food but he can bear it.

However the rest of us refuse to eat food as spicy as that so we have to eat leftovers.

There were some plum riceballs, boiled potatoes and cut fruit in the fridge, I took them out.

After we took our share we ate the leftovers by the cushion.

As we are eating dinner Mom suddenly stopped and collapsed on the table.

“Mom!” Jet and I yelled.

“Oh no what is happening to Mommy?” Leslie asked.

“We have to get her to the hospital!” said Mr Vermillion.

“What is happening to Mommy!?”

“We’ll explain later” said Jet.

When we arrived at the hospital the doctors took Mom to the emergency room for her medications.

“What is going on?” Sarah asked “Why is Mommy inside that room?”

“Sarah...” I said “Mom is sick...”

“Huh? Mommy can’t be sick!”

“Yes she is, she has a deadly illness-“

“Kleude!” Jet pressed his hand to my mouth “Sarah is too young to know about that!?”

“She has to know, she can’t go around thinking Mom is perfectly fine!”

“...” he released his hand from my mouth.

“Sarah, Mom really is sick.”

“Why!?”

“She has a disease inside of her, she might not be able to live in a few years.”

“What do you mean she won’t live!? She will she will!”

I slapped her “Just look at Mom, she’s getting so thin and weak by the day!”

She looked at the door to the room Mom is in “Mom really could be... she is...” she collapsed on the ground crying “Mommy will die!?”

“Sarah...”

“I want Mommy to live and be with us!”

“I want Mom to be with us too...” I put my arms around her as she cried about Mom.

“Maybe you three should go home for the day” said Mrs Maverick.

Jet and I nodded heading out of the hospital.

Sarah is still upset, we tried to comfort her telling her Dad and us will still be around.

“But I want Mommy so we can have a big happy family!”

“What is this little girl droning on about?” said a high nasal voice.

Jet and I hugged around Sarah, Moton is nearby frowning at us, he was clutching his head for some reason.

“Do you have a headache?” Ariel asked.

“No, mind your own business girl!”

“That’s just rude...”

Moton scowled at her “So what are you doing here lazy cat?”

“None of your concern Moton Douglas.”

I tried to drag Jet and Sarah away. But Sarah suddenly opened her mouth “Mommy is sick!” she said.

“Sarah!” Jet and I tried to shut her mouth but she smacked both of us.

“And she’s going to die soon!”

“She’s sick huh?” said Moton peering at us, adjusting his glasses.

I frowned trying to drag Sarah away “Would you excuse us, we just want to go home” I said.

Moton scowled “You three are so brazen useless you drove your mother to sickness?”

“We didn’t cause our mother to be ill!” Jet yelled “She always had a weak body!”

“She gave birth to you three, it must be why she’s getting that sick.”

“Stop it, Sarah and Jet didn’t do anything to make her weak!” I said.

“Then why is she in the hospital?”

“It’s not her fault her body is weak!”

“You are so worthless you even made your mother ill... you aren’t worth anything, I’m sure no one will accept you anywhere you white thrash.”

“Please don’t say such things to my big brother!” Sarah yelled.

“What has he ever done for you?”

“He’s my big brother!”

Moton snorted, smacking her with his book.

She collapsed crying loudly, I trembled approaching him “Don’t hit her...” I said.

“You are worthless, you can’t even defend your own baby sister, you are worth nothing other than a pretty face.”

I trembled even more trying to fight back tears at his words, Blood and Ariel approached him “Stop saying such cruel words!” Ariel yelled.

“Yeah you’re hurting him!” said Blood.

“He deserves it” said Moton “I never seen anyone so useless in my life.”

“You’re wrong, he’s not useless” said Ariel “No one is useless, anyone who says that has no-” before she could finish Moton smacked her and ran away.

“Are you okay Ariel?” Blood asked.

“Yeah... but that guy what is up with him?”

“...” I walked away.

“Hey are you okay?” Blood asked.

I ignored him running back home.

“Kleude!” everyone cried.

When I arrived home I headed back to my room crying on my bed, is Mom really getting weaker from giving birth to me? If only I could do something to make her well again... I want her to be happy and alive not shrivelled and dead, she doesn’t deserve to die!

“Kleude, why did you just run away like that!?” Jet yelled through the door.

I trembled, tears still flowing down my cheeks and soaking my pillow “C-come in...” I said.

Jet and Sarah went inside my room, I turned away burying my face on my pillow again.

“What he said isn’t true you know.”

“Maybe it is, I don’t know how giving birth goes but...”

“You didn’t make Mom like that big brother!”

“I love you big brother!” said Sarah, putting her arms around me.

“B-but...” I said.

“Don’t believe him, he’s just being a jerk because he can” said Jet.

I wiped my tears off my cheeks when Sarah tremble, I put a hand on her head, I know she’s still upset but we have to do what we can for now.


	49. Chapter 49

10/10/2009

Tonight Jet, Blood, Ariel and I are walking around town in a warm night around Astterica sight seing.

“It’s been almost seven years isn’t it?” Blood asked.

“Hm?” all of us cocked our heads.

“You know when all of us first met!”

“I still remember when I first met Jet and Kleude” said Ariel.

“I still remembered my first meeting too.”

“It feels like such a long time passed since then...” I said.

“Yeah... now it feels like we known each other all our lives.”

I sigh looking at Blood, I still have the book we were supposed to write together as kids until all of us abandoned it. I don’t know if the others remember about the book now but I still do and it’s a huge joke to look at it now.

“I wonder if we will still see each other when all of us grow up...” said Ariel.

“I’m sure we will” said Blood “Well maybe you will still be with Kleude’s little brother and you two might get married” he sigh to himself “Maybe I will still see all three of you as well, it’s not like Mom wants to move anytime... and I do want to stay with her.”

“Would you still be staying in here though?” I asked Ariel.

“Yes, it’s my hometown, I lived in here for years and I don’t to leave this place, I love being in here” she said.

“I guess all of us will stay after all” said Jet.

“But still I wonder how the future will be like...”

“Maybe all of us will get married and have families” he grinned, looking at me “If big brother ever get over his allergies to relationships.”

“Shut up” I said.

“...”

Blood is grinning at us, I looked back at him my ears twitching.

As we were walking we saw a teenager and two kids passing by.

One of the kid, a girl with blonde hair in pigtails is clinging to the teen. He has bright red hair, the other kid is a girl with long blue hair dressed in butler clothes for some reason.

“Hey they look familiar” said Blood.

Ariel stared at them with her big eyes widening “L-Lancelot?” she said.

“Huh?” the girl with blue hair gasped, she looked at all of us “A-Ariel?”

They smiled at each other.

“Whoa Lancelot looked like a girl back then but whoa” I said looking at his legs, they have full thighs like a woman, almost everything about him looks feminine in fact.

“Hey Lancelot what are you doing?” the red haired boy asked, I realized who he is now, Subaru that boy who asked Blood to ride on his bike.

He apologized to me in a letter but I want to apologize to him in person for avoiding him and being so rude to him when I knew that hurting Blood was an accident.

Subaru and Naru looked at us.

“Hey Ariel how has things been?” Naru asked.

“Fine” said Ariel.

“So how are your friends?”

“They are fine as well.”

“Even Blood?” Subaru asked.

“Yeah!” Blood yelled waving his arms.

“You are so shrimpy!”

“I will grow up to be taller just you wait Subaru!”

“As tall as Naru?”

“Taller!”

“So where’s your boyfriend Ariel?” Lancelot asked.

“Oh, he’s right here” Ariel pointed to Jet.

“Your boyfriend is pretty cute...”

“He has such a large marking on his face” said Naru.

“Long story on how I got that” said Jet.

“How did you get that?”

“I-I don’t really want to bring that up...”

“Hey is that your girlfriend Blood?” Subaru pointed at me, I covered my mouth as he looked at me I realize that he’s a bit taller than I am “She’s really beautiful...” Naru poked him on the ribs “Aw Naru no one is prettier than you!”

“I’m sorry but that’s my older brother.”

“W-what?” Subaru glared at me “Wait a minute are you...”

“Yes I am Kleude” I said.

“You grown so much when I last saw you.”

“Subaru there’s something I want to tell you...”

“Huh?”

“I’m sorry for what I said to you on vacation, I know you didn’t do it on purpose b-but-“

“It’s okay you already apologized on your letter.”

“But I wanted to tell it to you for real!”

“...”

“I’m a wimp aren’t I?”

“Subaru let’s go visit Ariel before it’s time to go home!” said Naru “I want to see her house.”

Subaru patted her head nodding.

Ariel, Jet and I looked at Lancelot, he seems dejected, we know he likes Naru a lot. It must have hurt to see her with Subaru instead.

Inside Ariel’s house Naru started squealing “Oh my gosh it’s as nice as Lancelot’s house!” she ran about looking at everything in the house.

“So Lancelot why are you here?” Ariel asked.

“I’m on a break for a week when Dad suggested I leave the city during then, I picked this place since that’s where you live, I invited Naru and Subaru along as well since they are my friends” he said “But Ariel can we talk in private somewhere?”

“Sure.”

The two blue heads exited Ariel room to talk about something.

“What is he on about?” Subaru asked.

“Something related to girls maybe?” I said.

“Is he in love?” Naru asked.

“Who knows...”

Naru returned holding some dresses one blue and one purple bouncing up and down “Oh my gosh these dresses are so cute!” she yelled.

“Yeah” said Subaru.

“But the skirt is too long... I might trip over and hurt myself.”

“Too bad...”

“Unless...” she smiled, looking at Jet and I, we gulped as she approached us “You two could try it for me!”

“W-what!?” I said.

“You two are pretty enough to wear a dress, please try it for me, I’m sure both of you will be so cute in these!”

We stared at each other, Naru looks so excited, we don’t want to upset her, we grabbed the dresses and head into the changing room.

As we took off our clothes, I looked at the dress I took and blushed. It’s pretty long and for Ariel’s height it would hit her ankles but for me it would be just below the knees but how would Blood react if he saw me in this?

I looked at Jet, he’s also blushing probably thinking about Ariel, I stared at the lacey blue dress, putting it on.

When we got out Naru shrieked in delight “Oh my goodness you two are so cute!”

I looked over at Blood, as I suspected his face is red, he turned away from me covering his face.

My face is getting flushed as well but everyone just thought I was just embarrassed to wear a dress.

Ariel and Lancelot soon returned to her room, they gasped when they saw Jet and me.

“Oh my god what are you doing in my clothes you two!?” she asked.

“Naru asked us to wear these!” Jet yelled.

“Naru?”

“I think they are so cute but it’s too big for me” she said, putting on a stupid grin.

Ariel sigh at her, as she approached Lancelot to get a camera.

After she took a photo Jet and I headed back into the closet to change back.

When we returned Lancelot is looking at his watch “Oh it’s getting late, I got to return home, Mom, Dad and all my sisters will be worried if I’m late!”

“We return Uncle Eiji as well” said Subaru, locking arms with Naru.

“Are both of you staying with Eiji?” Blood asked.

“Yeah my Dad is busy and-“

Naru face sank, she clung to Eiji “Please don’t bring up Father...”

“...”

As they headed to the entrance Lancelot suddenly asked Naru for some alone time when they leave the house since he wanted to tell her something.

Jet, Blood, Ariel and I just stared at each other, “Maybe we should head home as well” said Blood.

As Jet and I walked back home I thought about Blood, I realize that we are the only ones who are not quite normal. I wanted to talk to him now...

When we arrived home I raised my hand “What is it?” Jet asked.

“I want to talk to Blood for a while, don’t worry it won’t be too long” I said.

He didn’t reply as he opened the door.

I hurried over to Blood’s house, he was at the entrance opening the door.

“Blood!” I yelled.

“Kleude what are you doing here?” he asked.

“I wanted to see you, without the others...”

“Huh?”

“I just want to spend some time with you Blood...”

He sigh approaching me, I took one of his arm “Kleude?”

“I love you, you know that...” I traced circles around his hand with my free hand.

“I love you too.”

“But do you think we will still be together in the future?”

“I am positive, don’t worry so much” there was a hint that he wasn’t so sure in his voice however.

“Oh Blood” I smiled kissing him.

He let out a soft moan taking in my kiss.

When we have to break apart for air, Blood is grinning at me touching my cheek “You actually look pretty cute in that dress.”

“Bloody...” I pretended to pout.

“I hope your life gets better soon.”

“...” I looked away.

“Even if your mother doesn’t make it please keep your chin up.”

I sigh looking back at him “I hope you won’t hurt yourself as well Blood.”

“Don’t worry I won’t.”

I smiled, petting his head before I broke apart to head back home.


	50. Chapter 50

24/12/2009

Christmas is arriving soon, Jet and I have to go to school first before we can decorate the house a bit to celebrate.

“It’s almost the end of the year...” said Jet.

“Yeah...” I said.

“You will only have one more year in school.”

I looked at Jet noting his height, he’s pretty tall... I raised my hand to measure his height is a little above my head.

“Big brother?”

“Y-you are getting so tall” I mumbled.

“...”

I grinned, patting his head.

In school for the most part everything is back to normal.

But after recess when I headed back to class all of a sudden someone stepped on my tail!

I screamed at the pain, turning my head, Eku is smirking at me “Why hello faggot” she said.

“What do you want?” I asked.

“Oh nothing it’s just fun seeing you squirm in pain as I step on your pathetic tail.”

I yanked my tail away trying to run away when she pushed me, I collapsed on my face and dropped my lunch box and fruit juice carton.

She smirked picking up the fruit carton “No milk kitty?”

“I just take whatever drink there is” I groaned getting up.

“Oh really? You should drink more milk maybe it will help your boobs grow.”

“I’m a man, I don’t have-“ she pressed her fingers on my lips.

“Ooo maybe you are secretly a woman, you aren’t drinking enough milk so you are flat, drink more milk then you... thing won’t be so big” she giggle walking away.

I frowned putting my hand on my chest, I know she’s saying this because she is ashamed of her own tiny chest?

I headed out of the cafeteria for class, Elesa is sitting on a corner in the hallway crying and holding her pregnant belly.

She’s been having it really bad since everyone found out from her growing stomach, her sicknesses and weird appetite, her friends dumped her, even Taro broke ties with her for sleeping with Red.

Ariel tried to help her when she sees her but she refused utterly.

She suddenly clutched her stomach o-oh this hurts so much!

“Hey are you hurt?” I asked.

She frowned at me “What is it you weirdo?”

“Do you need some help?”

No, mind your own-“ she gasped clutching her stomach again.

I headed into the classroom, I can’t do anything for her at all.

Her whining got louder and louder, the music teacher stormed out in a rage and gasped when she saw Elesa.

She didn’t appear for the rest of the lesson so everyone else except Moton played about in the class until the next lesson.

After school Jet and I headed back home, on the way we encountered Ariel passing bye.

“Hey Ariel!” said Jet.

“Oh hi” said Ariel approaching us.

“Whatcha doin?”

“Getting something for Mom and Dad for Christmas.”

“Ah.”

We chatted to each other about random things when some sniffing caught our attention.

“Elesa?” Ariel said.

Elesa is crying in a corner, her belly is not longer bloated.

“What’s the matter?” Ariel asked.

Elesa’s eyes widened when she saw us before frowning “Why do all of you have to be such busy bodies for!?”

“You gave birth didn’t you?” I asked.

She bit her lips staring at me “Yeah so what?”

“Are you going to keep the baby?” Ariel asked.

“Mind your own business!”

“Are you going to raise that child I mean it might be difficult-“

“I must tell Red about that child... he will understand...”

“But he impregnated so many girls before!”

“He will understand my dilemma if I tell him! He will realize how wrong he is!”

“Are you crazy!?” I yelled “After what he did to all those girls and how their lives are broken you think you can change him!?”

“He might understand if I tell him how much pain I’m in...”

“B-but-“

“I believe he can change, he might reform and help me raise our son together!”

She ran away hugging herself.

“Elesa...” said Ariel.

“What do you think will happen to the kid and her?” Jet asked.

“I have no idea...” I said.

“We shouldn’t think so much about her though, it’s almost Christmas, we should be happy.”

Ariel and I nodded.

27/12/2009

We didn’t think about Elesa anymore in the last few days, like so many girls who fell for Red she just vanished.

I have to wonder how many kids that guy has not, I won’t be surprised if he has twenty.

And they say the cat folks are horny.

I have to go out to get supplies while Sarah and Jet struggles to clean up the house.

On the way I encountered Ariel.

“Hello Kleude” she said.

“Hi Ariel” I said.

“What are you doing?”

“Just hanging out around town.”

“I’m just getting some supplies.”

She followed me as I head for the bookstore “Say Kleude about Blood did you know he has some rather strange books in his drawer?”

“...” so Ariel knows about it too?

“He shown it to me before, I don’t know how he managed to get them or why he got them but it’s strange he got them.”

“Oh really?”

“You wouldn’t be angry if I told you what they are would you?”

“O-of course not...”

“Those books are about homosexual couples.”

“...”

“Kleude?”

“I know about those, Blood shown them to me.”

She gasped “W-wha? You don’t mind?”

“No, he’s my best friend, I don’t care what material he reads.”

“A-and...” she turned away “never mind.”

We headed into the bookstore to get some school supplies, she offered to pay but I refused.

When we headed back to my house there were high pitched noises.

“That sounds like a baby crying!” said Ariel.

We turned around trying to pick up where the crying is, we followed the noise as it got louder and louder.

We stopped in an alleyway gasping at what we saw.

Elesa is on the ground with her eyes opened covered in blood.

“Elesa!” Ariel cried, putting her hands on her heart “She’s not breathing.”

I looked at the baby picking him up, he cried even louder when I grabbed him! Ariel took the baby from me, undoing the wrapping, I covered my eyes.

“Oh it’s a boy!” she gasped.

“What is Elesa doing here?” I asked.

“Hmm...”

When I uncovered my eyes I looked at her corpse all covered in blood with her eyes wide open, there was a knife nearby as well. She must have killed herself... I trembled at the bloody knife.

“Kleude?” Ariel asked.

“Does sex really lead to this...” I said.

“I’m sure it’s not like that-“

“Sex must be a bad thing if it leads to broken lives!” I ran out of the alleyway, on the way I saw Red walking around town with a girl on his arm “Red you bastard!”

“Go away gay cat” he said.

“Did you know what happened to one of the girls you screwed!?”

“Yeah she told me I’m a father so what?”

“Well she killed herself.”

“Whatever...”

I frowned, smacking him “Whatever, is that all you have to say!?”

“So what? I told her to get lost.”

“But she killed herself!”

“Why are you so concerned about her life for?”

“Why do you keep ruining other people’s lives for? Don’t you care about anyone?”

“They don’t deserve it, I don’t care what happens to them, if they get pregnant so be it, it’s not my business.”

I glared at him gritting my teeth, Ariel was also cross as well “I can’t believe you!” she yelled “What kind of person are you!?”

He stared at Ariel, the girl he’s hanging out with is also staring at him funny.

“Don’t you have any feelings? Is sex just a joke to you?”

“You should dump that boyfriend of yours and joined me, then you will know how wonderful sex feels.”

“No! I don’t want my life to be destroyed like them and I love Jet, he’s good and kind!”

“What do you see in some gay looking freak?”

“Don’t make fun of his looks, he has more heart than you, you monster!”

I stared at Ariel, she covered her face and ran away, I followed her.

She stopped by the entrance of her house “I can’t believe this guy!” she yelled “How can he treat people like this!?”

“...”

“How can those other kids even hang out with him?”

“Ariel...”

“He’s not a human, he’s a monster!”

I sigh patting her head “Never ever betray my brother okay?”

“I will never betray Jet but Kleude...” she put her arms around me “Why are you suffering like this so much? To see this guy destroy all those girls almost everyday.”

“I-I...”

“I’m surprised that you are...” she looked away letting go of me.

“I have to go home Ariel...”

“Go.”

I nodded heading back home, I thought about what happened to Elesa, why oh why do girls like her believe they can fix people after so many heart breaks?


	51. Chapter 51

1/1/2010

I sigh looking at the window outside, hello 2010...

“Hey big brother what’s the matter?”

“Do we have to go to school?” I asked.

“It’s the first day, they will throw a fit if you are missing.”

I sigh, not like the school had enough record of missing students already... “And another year of...”

“It’s just one more year, please be strong.”

I turned away, I just want to be able to sleep without worrying so much but still... “You still have a long way to go...”

“Don’t worry about me so much, I can take what they say.”

I sigh getting a hair slider to tie his hair up.

We got dressed and headed for the kitchen.

“Happy new year kids!” said Mom.

“Happy new year!” Sarah yelled.

Mom smiled at Sarah when she saw my face “Aw don’t look so down dear.”

“...”

“Chin up, I packed some carrot juice, carrots and peach bun for you.”

I tried to smile as she handed our lunchboxes after breakfast, Jet and I headed off to our school while Mom took Sarah to hers.

I kept up my smile as we headed for school but Red was passing by, he frowned when he saw me.

“You’re still here...” he said.

I frowned at him, passing by when he grabbed my ears “Ow my ears!” I yelled.

“You still look like a girl, that is just unnatural” he sniffed pushing me down the ground.

Jet helped me up “This guy never changes” he said.

“Except get hornier and...” my voice fell.

“And?”

“Never mind I’ll explain later.”

In the hallway the principal announced how glad he is to see of all us again while some of the kids were snickering and gossiping.

We were handed a times table for this year, my class will attend literature first.

I looked about left and right as I head to class just in case Eku, Moton, Taro or Red were around.

I gasped when Eku suddenly appeared wearing a big smirk on her face as she pinned me on the wall with my face and chest hitting it, her goons grabbed each of my arms with Taro nearby cackling.

I tried to turn my head, she grabbed something out of her pocket, I gasped at what she took out, it was a dead mouse!

“The servants found it on the scullery and killed it, I told them a cat would love it” she said “Isn’t it sweet you will have a nice dead mouse for breakfast?”

I shut my eyes and screamed trying to get away from her grip but they were as strong as iron.

“Hey what is going on here!?” said a rough voice.

I felt the grip around me loosened and I fell to the ground, I groaned getting up and turning around, Eku, Taro and the two goons are gone... but there is someone else in front of me.

I gasped, a large muscular man with dark skin and dark brown Mohawk is looking at me “What’s wrong he asked?”

“...”

“Hey are you okay...” he stared at me going all ‘oh’ and ‘ah’.

“I’m a boy.”

“Your face is pale.”

“...”

He just stared at me for a second when before heading into the class.

I followed him into class, sitting on where I’m assigned to.

Like every other year I have to sit next to Moton, he frowned at me pinching his nose.

“Hi everyone I’m a new teacher” said the large man “The name is Bian Byrnes, nice to meet everyone!”

He grinned waving to everyone.

“Oooh he looks brawny” said Eku.

“Yeah he must be stupid” said Taro.

Bian doesn’t seem to notice as he was still grinning away but all of a sudden he stopped smiling, grimacing instead “I got something really important to tell you kids, I don’t know if you know about it but you might as well know now” he said.

“It must be sex” said Eku giggling to Taro.

“Ah the beauty and importance of our body parts meeting...” said Taro.

The laughed when Bian suddenly cough “No, it’s not about sex, well it is important if you want a family but that can wait for you kids, no what I’m what to talk about is bullying.”

My eyes widened, I bent my back looking at Eku, Taro, Red and Moton. Eku and Taro were actually trembling, I looked back at the large man.

He smiled at me as if he’s trying to reassure me nothing bad will happen when he focused on everyone again “Bullying is a very serious issue I’m sure all of you know about it.”

“What’s so serious about a little teasing?” Eku asked “I meant it will help them realize that they should toughen up.”

“It’s a very serious issue that should be treated lightly” Eku frowned at the man “There are very serious effects to the victims-“

“It can’t be that serious, sure they might cry sometimes and they might feel weak for a while but-“

“It’s much more than that, let me show all of you some cases of bullying” we gathered around as he opened a book.

“Oh my that bully killed that boy!” said a fox boy.

“The poor boy killed himself!” said an elf girl.

“Oh my, that girl is so broken!” said a dwarf boy.

Bian sigh closing the book “That can be the consequences and it’s only getting worse...”

“That’s horrible!” a racoon girl yelled.

“They should be arrested for life!” said a tall boy.

“No they should be executed!” said another boy.

Everyone began bickering when Bian told everyone to keep quiet “I know all of you are angry but that is not the way to do it. We should understand the bully side as well and why they bully their victims.”

“How do you know about all of these?” Taro asked.

“...” he hung his head “I was a bully in high school...”

“Oh my god!” said a boy with a goatee.

“Mr Byrnes is a bully!” said a midget.

“Quiet!” Bian yelled “First we need to know why the bully is picking on others, maybe the bully has a bad home life and lashing it out on others since he or she thinks it’s normal, or maybe they are neglected and do it to get attention or maybe they have an inferior complex and do it to feel superior” he sigh to himself “but sometimes they bully the other person because they are jealous or believe something is wrong with the other person.”

I looked at Eku and Taro, they actually look very frightened now.

“I should tell you about what happened when I was still in school, there was a girl in my class who was quiet and didn’t like company, I never understood why she never wanted to make friends and prefer to isolated her so I told her she’s weird and she should stop hiding out of her shell and picked on her, she became afraid of me and I thought that she was realizing that she should stop being so asocial.”

“What h-happened to her?” I asked.

He collapsed on the table “She killed herself, someone found her body and confirmed it’s suicide from a note near her, I realize that what I did was wrong and it didn’t help her, I apologized to her parents and told them I picked on her to try to get her to open up. It turns out she only wanted one or two friends and she was naturally shy.”

“Oh my god...”

“Well thing is sometimes the bully is suffering but other times they could be in the wrong and never realize it.”

“You’re wrong!” Eku cried “There are some people who deserves to be humiliated, how can anyone not want to be surrounded by lots of friends!? That’s impossible!”

“Some people really do want to be alone with only a few friends.”

“But there’s no way a man can just want to spend his time in his house reading instead of playing sports or fawn over women! That’s just mutation!” I cringed.

“Nobody ever deserves to be bullied young lady and that is a poor excuse to hate on someone, not every man wants to be a jock or hit on a lot of women.”

Eku backed off her face white as a ghost, Taro was looking rather pale himself as they stared at the large man.

“Now then I hope we have some peace knowing about this. If any of you pick on anyone I will know about this and have a long talk with you.”

During break Eku was crying “What is it that I did was wrong? I’m never wrong!” she screamed.

“Yeah that can’t be right, how can anyone be anything like that girly dyke” said Taro.

The goons frowned looking at Eku and Taro “You still believe that after what Mr Byrnes told us?” said one of them.

“I realize that what we are doing is not helping him at all, it’s just hurting him!” said another goon.

“You should be ashamed of yourself!”

Eku and Taro screamed when the goons left their table.

Moton frowned reading his book and Red is trying to seduce girls but most of the girls are disgusted of him now telling him to go away.

I bit into my carrot, will the bullying really end like Bian said? I hope so...

After school Jet and I headed back home.

“Hey did you see that new teacher Mr Bian Byrnes?” Jet asked.

“Yeah” I said.

“He suddenly came up and scolded the kids who bad mouthing me and said he wanted to see them after school.”

“He had a very... interesting talk about bullying...”

“Oh?”

“... If his word is true maybe I will really get away from all the...” I smiled to myself.

“You’re crying.”

“Huh?” I wiped my eyes “I’m just really happy if that’s the case.”

“Hm...”

When we headed back home Mom and Sarah are in the dining room waiting for us, we sat down on our seat for dinner.

“You look like you are in a good mood” said Mom.

“We got a new teacher and he had a talk about bullying to the class” I said.

“Ah?”

I looked at the chicken bowl “Maybe this final year won’t be so bad after all.”

“That’s great to hear from you, you were always so down as far as school is concerned.”

I smiled at Mom but inside something is still lingering in my head, Mom is still getting weaker and it hurts to see her so weak and in pain.


	52. Chapter 52

15/3/2010

What Mr Byrnes said is true, he has a really eagle eye on anything that happens and will try to stop it as soon as possible, Jet is having a better time now without everyone bad mouthing him.

Red and Moton no longer speak to me although they are still their same old selves.

Red is having a hard time finding girls since most of them refuse to hang out with him now but I did see him seducing a few girls on the street every now and then that seems a lot more seductive than many of the previous girls, they must be that desperate to sleep with him.

I wish I could say life is easy but Mom is getting more and more sick, Dad is returning home more often to take care of her and he’s getting irritable from tending to Mom so often to make sure she will recover and be happy.

Almost everything Jet and I do upsets him and he gets pretty aloof, even Sarah can barely cheer him up.

Today I was supposed to get a jug of water with some glasses for Mom, I got a jug and filled it just enough so it won’t spill when I walk to the bedroom.

Dad is glaring at me as I settled the tray on the drawer near the bed.

He stared at the jug for a few second when he suddenly frowned at me “That’s too little water Kleude!”

“B-but I don’t want to spill-“

“Get more water you lazy ass!”

“Y-yes!” I ran out of the room, filling another jug to the top and tried to take it back in without spilling.

He frowned “That jug is too small, get a bigger one! Can’t you do anything right!?”

I trembled, something inside me suddenly snapped, I glared at him “You can’t tell me what to do anymore Dad, I’m seventeen now, I’m not a kid anymore.”

“What did you just say!?”

“I know you are concerned for Mom but you can’t just order me to do everything your way!” I stormed out of the house.

I don’t want to go back home to see Dad now, he will be enraged and I don’t want to see his face for the rest of the day.

But I can’t sleep on the street, I have to find a place to stay for one day.

I could go to Ariel but I don’t like asking her things, but there is Blood...

I headed to his house knocking on the door.

As usual his mother got the door “Hey Kleude” she said.

“M-Mrs Maverick...” I said “Can I stay over for the day?”

“Why?”

“...I-I...”

“Did you get permission from your parents?”

“No but please let me in, I can’t go home, my Dad will kill me if I do.”

“What happened?”

“I-I kinda pissed him off about Mom...”

“So you want to stay out until he cools down?”

“Yes!” I clamped my hands on hers.

She sigh “Okay come on in, I’ll tell Blood you’ll stay over.”

She let me in and headed to the living room, Blood is watching Sonic X on his TV.

“Blood, your best friend is here and he said he wants to stay over for the night” said Mrs Maverick.

“Huh why?” Blood asked.

“He said he gotten into a fight with his father, do you know anything about this?”

“His Dad? Yeah, I know him, he can be really bad tempered when it comes to Mrs Fleming and her wellbeing.”

“Poor Lloyd... but he should understand how his kids feel, especially the boys.”

“You should tell him that but I don’t think he’ll listen, he never listens to what Ariel says.”

The episode of Sonic X ended with a very catchy ending song.

“Gotta go fast gotta go fast” I hummed.

They gasped, turning to face me “Were you listening to us?” said Mrs Maverick.

“Yes” I said.

“I’m sorry we didn’t mean to...”

I shook my head leaving the living room to sit in the kitchen.

They arrived a few minutes later, Mrs Maverick sat down on a chair near me getting out a newspaper to read “Kleude since you are staying where are you going to sleep? We don’t have any extra beds you know.”

“I could sleep on the living room couch” I said.

“He could share a bed with me” said Blood.

“What!?”

“It’s not very comfy on the sofa, I know my bed is small but I can sleep on the floor.”

“Blood-“

“It’s okay I don’t mind.”

I sigh at him he can be so stubborn when it comes to decisions.

“T-that’s very kind of you to suggest that...” said Mrs Maverick “I mean the floor is not very comfy to sleep in...”

Blood grinned at his mother “He’s my best friend, I will do anything to make sure he’s comfy in here!”

Mrs Maverick sigh, patting him on the head.

We headed to Blood’s room after this, I looked through his bookshelf “You don’t have any of those weird gay manga in here do you?” I asked.

“Nah I keep them all on my drawer, some of my other friends don’t like them.”

“Okay...” I looked through all the books, they were mostly horror or mystery novels, I don’t care for those, I grumbled skimming through summaries “So many mystery and horror books you have here” I accidentally knocked down one book putting one of the books back.

I picked the book up and saw the summary, it’s about a woman dealing with a mother with breast cancer. My eyes widened as I looked into the book.

“Found something that interests you?” Blood asked.

I nodded flipping through the pages, the heroine Katie lived a happy life with her little brother and her mother. Her father had abandoned her family leaving them to fend for themselves.

“Medicinal hope... I remember reading this book, I cried during the end.”

“Where did you get this?”

“Mari gave it to me after she was done, she said it was too melodramatic for her, from what I’ve known her sister and our teacher Ms Rose gave it to her for her birthday.”

“I’m surprised you actually kept such a sad book” I flicked through the page, Katie is upset that her mother is diagnosed with breast cancer after finding out her mother is hiding a lump she had on her chest for months and it’s on a serious stage.

Katie had to deal with work to help her mother and take care of her brother, she also had to deal with deadlines or get fired, often getting completely exhausted when she returns home.

One day she encountered a young man sitting in a corner playing a guitar, she was impressed putting some money on the hat nearby.

The man was surprised taking the hat, Katie told him that he was very talented, he walked away embarrassed at her words.

They encountered each other several times after that, Katie relaxed listening to his music and he was less tense with her listening to her music, the man eventually told her about his dream to be a musician in a rock band impressing people but nobody seems to notice him, Katie reassured him that if he prevails he will reach his dreams even though her hopes that her Mom will live is getting shattered.

Eventually the man told Katie his name(David) and his home life, they started to fall for each other.

“So much romance...” I groaned flicking through the pages, I wanted to see what will happen to Katie’s mother not see these two fall in love.

I stopped at the point Katie and her brother are in the hospital room as their mother is getting an operation, she is praying that her mother will make it.

After some thoughts about her family and Dave, a surgeon exited from the operation room and gave them a thumb up.

I looked at that line again and again, could there be hope for Mom to live like Katie’s one did even though her condition is so serious?

“So how was the book?” Blood asked when I closed it.

“Do you think Mom will be able to make it?” I asked.

“Huh?”

“I don’t want her to die, I want her to get well again and be happy with all of us!”

“Gees I don’t know, maybe there is a chance.”

I stared at Blood, I hope what he says is true, everyone will be completely shattered if she dies!

Blood got closer to me “I guess we just have to wait and see how it goes.”

“...”

After dinner and a hot bath(they let me go before themselves) everyone headed for an early bed.

Blood’s pajamas are too small for me so I have to borrow his mother’s ones, they are a bit loose on the hips though.

“Are you sure you are going to let me sleep on your bed?” I asked “It’s your bed after all and I’m sure that the floor is not a very nice place to sleep in.”

“Of course I’m sure, it doesn’t matter if I have to sleep on the floor” said Blood.

I sigh jumping into bed, he took a spare blanket and some pillows in his cupboard and slept on the floor.

I’m sleepy yet I couldn’t sleep, it must not be very comfortable for Blood to be sleeping on the floor, I looked at him, his limbs are all spread far apart and he has an uncomfortable expression on his face, rolling about on the floor.

“Blood...” I said.

He opened his eyes looking at me “What’s the matter?”

“Jump into the bed, it must be rather uncomfortable on the floor.”

“It’s okay I can take it.”

“But I’m sure you would like to be on the bed instead?”

“No it’s okay just rest!”

“Get on the bed, it will be a tight fit but I won’t mind.”

He looked at me, peeling himself off the floor, I shifted myself to let him have some room as he settled on the bed.

I smiled at him shutting my eyes, I opened them again when I felt his hands grasping mine “Blood?”

“It’s nice to be so close to you and feel your hands...” he closed his eyes.

I blinked twice before closing my eyes as well.

16/3/2010

I woke up, my mind is all fuzzy... somehow somebody is holding my hands, I gasped when I saw Blood sleeping right next to me, what’s he doing sleeping next to me for!? I recalled what happened yesterday.

Of course I ran away from home because of Dad being so demanding about Mom to hide until tomorrow and I went to Blood house and he offered his bed but I told him to climb into bed with me since the floor was uncomfortable.

I looked at him and smiled, he just look so cute with his eyes closed, breathing lightly clutching my hands, I removed my hands from his grip, poking the tip of his nose.

His eyes slid opened and he smiled at me “Ah morning Kleude...” he said.

I smiled back before getting out of his bed, I thought about Dad, I should go back home and apologize for running away, I bet everyone else must be worried as well...

“Blood I have to go home” I said.

“To apologize to you father?”

I nodded, heading into the closet to change back into my clothes.

After I got dressed and had breakfast I said my goodbyes and headed back for home.

When I arrived home Mom, Jet and Sarah were overjoyed to see me, rushing to give me a hug, I could barely breath with all three of them putting their arms around me, Dad frowned when he saw “Where were you?” he asked.

“I went to my friend’s house” I said.

“Oh Kleude we were wondering where you were!” said Jet “When you didn’t return home we were so worried!”

Dad frowned at me but compared to yesterday he seems to be in a better mood now.

I looked at Mom, she looks so pale and thin... I’m sure there is a miracle and she will be cured of her illness somehow. And everyone especially Dad and Sarah will be overjoyed and we will have our happily ever after.


	53. Chapter 53

29/9/2010

There’s only three months of school left, everyone is studying hard to get good results for the exams.

Eku and Taro are sitting alone in the cafeteria, most of their friends deserted them since they will never admit that they are wrong for picking on me, trying to dominate them and still thinks they are justified.

They are pretty unhappy that they lost so many of their friends but they are also busy trying to get good grades to get into the colleges they want to go to for their dream jobs, Eku wanted to be an athlete while Taro wants to be a salesman somewhere.

Red arrived at the cafeteria much later than everyone else as usual, however surprisingly he looks rather down.

He sat on Eku and Taro’s table “What do you want now Red?” Eku asked “I thought you were kicked out of my group last year.”

“...”

“What did you have so much sex you are tired of it now? That’s what you get for getting in an orgy almost every day.”

“I-I... I found out that one of the girls I was with have AIDS...”

“What!?” Taro and Eku yelled.

“I had sex with her since she was willing when one day she suddenly said she discovered she has AIDS, I could have been infected by it...”

“...” Eku and Taro didn’t say anything just staring at each other.

My eyes widened at his words, he got infected with a fatal disease! Inside my head I’m glad I didn’t sleep with anyone in my life but Red is going to die!

On the one hand it serves him right, he never cares about what happens to anyone but still...

Eku and Taro got out of their table leaving Red alone to just stare at the table.

9/10/2010

Everyone completely avoided Red now knowing he has AIDS, he’s just sitting on the table looking so dejected and increasingly sickly.

Today Blood, Jet, Sarah and I were wandering around town to get something for Ariel on her birthday with our pocket money.

She likes reading, she also likes dolls so we looked around the bookstore and toy shop. Blood got a book about called Jane Eyre while I got a Princess Rosalina figurine.

Jet gasped at a Princess Peach plush doll dressed in a wedding dress “Oh I never seen this one before” he said “I’m sure Ariel would love it!”

He took the doll heading for the cashier, Sarah arrived shortly after with a pink Yoshi.

“Sarah, I’m pretty sure Ariel’s favourite colour is white not pink” I said.

“But pink is so cute!” she protested, hugging the Yoshi doll.

I sigh as she paid for the pink Yoshi and we headed back for our house to gift wrap the presents.

On the way home I caught sight of Red walking around town, I frowned clutching the figurine to my chest attempting to walk past him when I felt one of my ears being yanked at.

“Ow let me go!” I yelled.

“Let him go, Red!” Jet yelled.

He frowned letting go of my ear, I backed off clutching the figurine even closer to my chest “Stupid sissy buying girly toys” he said.

“It’s for a friend’s birthday okay?”

“Whatever girly boy who used to own a Princess Daisy pencil box.”

“I still have it...” I mumbled in a barely audible volume.

“What did you say?”

“Nothing!”

“...” he walked away, we headed back home at once to gift wrap our presents, Jet had to cut up the wrapper for Sarah since she is bad with scissors.

After wrapping the presents we have to head into town to get supplies, Jet went to the bookstore while I have to go to the market.

Unfortunately Red is leaning by the wall of the store, he caught sight of me at once, I frowned backing off a bit.

“It’s you again effeminate gay boy” he said.

“Shut up, I can’t help it...” I said.

“Whatever you are oozing so much girliness you are looking for attention from boys.”

“And you must be oozing so much manliness you sleep with anything with a vagina huh? If so I’m glad I look feminine and rather stay at home to read.”

“You don’t understand my life.”

“Huh?”

“You don’t understand how hard my life is, you have it easy having a little brother and sister who look up to you, my parents look up to my brother like a god and my brother is beloved by everyone around him, he will beat me up if he knows or even suspect I did anything wrong, I just want attention you little damn stupid spoiled whore...” he began to cry as he said all of that.

I frowned slapping him on the face “I don’t care if you were neglected or beaten up, you are doing the same thing that your brother is doing to me and hurting so many girls as well and you don’t care about what happens to them! Why should I sympathize for you? All you do is make my life a living hell with all of your ‘friends’!”

Red backed off away from me “Damn you little bitch... I can’t understand how you can enjoy being alone reading or sketching away when my only pleasure is going inside the vagina of girls and spilling myself inside of them.”

“That’s because you are so damn obsessed with proving you are straight.”

“Shut up you little queer pretty boy, how can you see anything with anyone with the same reproduction part as you!?”

“Shut up about what everyone has under their pants, I don’t care what is under their pants...”

“I can’t believe someone like you is a man...”

“Huh?”

“You are so damn pretty for a man, just as pretty all of those girls...” he sniffed “Of course you have what I have so I’m not interested in bedding you.”

“I would never sleep with you, you are horrible!” I slapped him again and went into the store while he’s recovering.

When I was done getting supplies, he wasn’t by the entrance, I sigh in relief thank god, I don’t ever want to see him again, he’s beyond inconsiderate to everyone not caring about what happen to them.

30/10/2010

Ariel told us she plans to celebrate her birthday in a cafe in town with her father and us as guests.

After a nice dinner of baked potatoes, carrot cake and seafood paella(which I didn’t eat though) we decided to head to Ariel’s house to play some video game she likes.

On the way Derrick and two adults I assume must be his parents are passing by with very sombre looks on their faces.

“Hey what’s wrong?” Blood asked them.

“Oh hello” said Derrick trying to smile at us.

“Why are the three of you so sad?” Ariel asked.

“My brother died from some disease a few days ago, he never told me about it but he just collapsed and the doctor found out he has AIDS.”

“Wait he died?” I asked.

“Yeah.”

“...”

“We never knew what he does when he’s away, it’s terrifying to know that he must be sleeping with people.”

“If only we didn’t ignore him, maybe he would have been still around” said Red’s mother.

Red’s father tried to comfort his wife as they walked away.

I stared at them with my eyes and mouth wide opened, I already knew that he will die from the sickness eventually but it must have hurt his family to not know about it and to see him die suddenly.

“Hey cheer up” said Blood “Let’s celebrate Ariel birthday and play the games she likes and forget about it, I mean he never did anything good for you right?”

I nodded following the others back to Ariel’s house.

We told her to pick all her favourite games out to play for the night.

She got out Eternal Darkness, Mortal Kombat Shaolin Monks, Resident Evil 2, Resident Evil 3, Resident Evil 4, Bully and Final Fantasy 10.

We picked Final Fantasy 10 deciding to take turns with different characters.

“Okay let’s start our big journey!” Blood yelled.

We started a new game and after a blonde half shirtless guy goes up to the mountain alone and begin his narration the screen faded to black.

“Wow this ship is beautiful” said Jet.

“Oh my so many people cheering for the blonde” said Ariel.

“Can’t imagine why” I said “Must be the bare chest.”

“And abs” said Blood.

I sigh at Blood squeezing his arms.

“Man his voice is annoying” I said.

“What shall we name him?” Ariel asked.

“How about Whiner?”

“Or Sport jock” said Jet.

“Or Sora” said Blood.

Ariel didn’t say anything wiping out the name Tidus and changing his name to Pinto.

“Pinto...” said Jet “Isn’t that your father’s name?”

“Yes, yes it is.”

After talking with some more fans, the kids wanted Tidus to teach them Blitzball but he rejected since he has a match and will teach them after a match when a kid in a hood said he cannot so he will do it tomorrow.

On the city there was a tanned shirtless man who turns out to be Tidus’ father on the public TV with Tidus trying to ignore him trying to get to the stadium to play Blitzball whatever that is.

After a bit of struggling to get into the croud the match started “Awesome CGI!” said Blood “It’s even better than the one in Kingdom Hearts!”

“Man that guy with the sunglasses and red coat looks awesome” said Jet.

All of a sudden disaster happened and Tidus has to run away from the stadium, he encountered the man with the red jacket.

“Whoa Pinto knows about him” said Jet.

“He’s a surrogate father to him” said Ariel.

“Oh.”

“Wow his voice is so deep and rough” said Blood.

After some chat Ariel steered Tidus again until they have to battle.

“I want to be Auron” said Jet.

“I’ll be Auron as well, Pinto is annoying” I said.

“So I guess Ariel and I are Pinto” said Blood.

After some battle we reached a giant crystalline creature and have to kill it.

“Don’t bother to heal” said Ariel “Demi will always deal ¼ of your current life and will never kill you.”

“Okay” said Blood, Jet and I.

After defeating the boss we can save the game, it recovers everyone health to our joy.

During the next battle the sinspawn are constantly respawning with Tidus getting desperate when Auron suggest they destroy a machine nearby.

After we kept attacking that machine it exploded and somehow the entire city is flooded and Tidus meets the hooded kid again before ending up in a half flooded ruins.

Inside the ruins was a little device that ask us to load another data for something called Al Bhed Primers.

“Those are books to decipher some of the words some of the people say” said Ariel “I already have all of the books in one of my previous data.”

After loading up the other data we continued wandering around when the ruins crumbled and Tidus has to swim around encountering monsters and having to run away and hide somewhere.

After we have to start a fire Tidus began to whine he’s hungry and thinks about a moment with Auron.

“Man this guy is really really annoying” I said.

“He gets less annoying later on” said Ariel.

“Urg I hope he stops with the whining...”

After the flashback the creature that caused him to runaway reappear.

“No not again!” Jet yelled as a battle began.

After what feels like a very difficult battle a group appeared with one of them a girl helping Tidus.

“Ew is she exposing all of breasts and almost all of her body?” Blood asked.

“I’m pretty sure those are her clothes they are just skin coloured” I said.

Whatever it is the girl can use bombs which quickly killed the creature in a few blows.

Tidus got captured by these people and taken to their ship when the girl suddenly spoke in English and said that he could help them.

“Her voice is annoying like Pinto here” I said.

“Yeah” said Jet “So cutesy.”

“I think it’s cute” said Ariel.

After a long tutorial about how to level up your character we continued the game heading into the water to swim to follow the girl with her on our group.

“So how shall we split this time?” Ariel asked.

“I am not touching Pinto” I said.

“I like this girl, I might try her out” said Blood.

As we explored we ended up in a rather small room with a weird octopus like creature and there is some kind of command called trigger.

“Those happens during some bosses” said Ariel “Usually they get you out of a disadvantage if you us it.”

“Got it” said Blood.

“Oh her overdrive is full!” I said, checking it out “Mix?”

“You have to pick two items and see the result” said Ariel.

I frowned picking two bombs.

After a some healings and attacking with bombs the monster went down and everyone headed to the surface. Tidus was rewarded with a tray of prisoner food and the girl introduced herself.

“Isn’t Riku the name of that friend of Sora on Kingdom Hearts that has all sort of gay sex with him in manga land?” I asked.

“Yes, yes it is” said Blood.

“Gees I can imagine how awkward if would be if both of them met...”

After Tidus was washed away we were prompted to save.

“Maybe we should stop, it’s getting late” said Ariel.

“Andanother very happy birthday to you Ariel” said Jet patting her back.

“Happy birthday Ariel!” Blood and I yelled.

Ariel blushed removing the game and shutting off her PS2.


	54. Chapter 54

2/12/2010

It’s exam week, everyone is so tired out trying to focus on exams, Dad is also stressed out at home so I tried to avoid him going to stay over at Blood’s house more often, Jet also takes off with Sarah to stay at Ariel’s during those periods lately.

Moton is looking increasingly strained but when anyone tells him to rest he would snap back so everyone gave up eventually.

Today there’s only two days of exams left for some reason Moton is nowhere to be seen, the girls began to talk about his absence.

I didn’t care, Moton was always annoying and for once he wasn’t around to drone on about how smart he is and how stupid everyone else is.

3/12/2010

However he didn’t appear again for the final exam, everyone is wondering what happened to him now, is he still alive? Just why did he vanish?

10/12/2010

Moton returned for the results suddenly looking very subdued, the girls asked him what happened, he didn’t say anything at all.

I can’t help but notice he was unusually quiet and didn’t speak during the entire class.

However eventually he snapped when someone asked why did he skip the last two days, smacking her with a book when Mr Byrnes arrived with the results for literature.

I looked at my result, I got 91. Suddenly Moton screamed.

“What is the matter?” Bian asked as everyone gathered around me.

“This is not right!” Moton screamed “How could I get ten mistakes!?”

“Calm down, it’s only a few errors-“

“How can I get a job as a doctor like this!?” Moton ripped some of his hair off in a rage, leaving everyone to walk away leaving him alone.

It went on for the other classes as well, he has some impressively good grades for the tests he was around for but he threw a tantrum every single time since he got a few mistakes.

After every single paper are handed over the girls tried to comfort Moton but he just brushed them away.

I was looking at my own results as the girls still tried to talk to Moton, 91 in literature, 78 in math, 82 in science, 65 in music, 94 in art, 45 in music, 10 in sports, 90 in language, 50 in geography and 70 in history.

After reading my report card there was a thud sound, everyone gasped, Moton had just collapsed!

Some of the students took him into the emergency room.

The nurse took him to a bed to let him rest, everyone else except for me walked away talking about what happened, I walked away from the crowd looking into the emergency room.

Moton seems rather peaceful sleeping away, I wish I could sleep like that but with Dad on the tethering edge of a rage and Mom being desperately weak I’m still worried, I hope there is a miracle and Mom will survive with all the therapy, operations and good food.

Moton woke up about twenty minutes later while everyone else is still talking about their results.

“Oh my head...” he groaned.

“Don’t assert yourself too much” said the nurse.

“Why am I in here!?”

“You suddenly collapsed after collecting your results according to the students” said the nurse.

Moton groaned, clutching his head “Oww my head...”

“Tell us what’s wrong young man.”

“Nothing is wrong, I’m perfectly fine, I just have a slight headache.”

“Well you collapsed so it must be more than just that.”

“Shut up if you are going to go on about my studying, I have to study, I must get perfect marks, how can I be a good doctor if I don’t show myself as a shining example?”

“You don’t have to get perfect marks young man, do a good job but don’t study so hard.”

“Well that’s why you are a nurse, you should do more than you can be a doctor” he huffed getting out of bed and walking away.

Moton frowned when he saw me pushing me away, I grumbled getting up as he walked away, I hate this guy, if he does become a doctor, I sure as hell do not want to visit him, he will just bad talk to his patient the whole way.

After school ended I cheered to myself, finally no more school!

“Lucky you” said Jet.

“Too bad you still have three more years” I said, petting his head.

“Yeah...”

We headed back home greeting Mom and Sarah on the dining table.

“I can’t believe it, my first child actually finished school!” said Mom.

“I will actually have to start preparing for work...” I muttered.

“Oh Kleude you are growing up...” Mom sniffed.

“Big brother Kleude is growing!” Sarah yelled.

“But it will still be another 2 months before I’m really an adult...” I said.

“My kids are all growing up” said Mom “Soon Kleude will get married and have a family and...” she began to cry.

“Mommy!” Sarah yelled.

“I won’t be there to see all of you, I will be another world!”

“Don’t say that Mom!” Jet and I yelled.

“Please don’t give up now” said Jet.

Mom wiped her tears “Boys, if I do die please take care of Sarah and yourselves, your father will still be busy working for all of you to survive, I know Kleude is going to work soon and will stay at home during then but please take care of yourselves.”

We nodded, trying to reassure Mom that we will do our best.

During bath time when Jet and I are in the bathroom, soaking ourselves in steaming hot water.

“Do you have any plan on what to write about big brother?” Jet asked.

“Hmm maybe a little fairy tale adventure with a princess who has to fight against monsters and save the world...” I said.

“Sounds like the stuff you like to read.”

“Well I like a strong spunky heroine in my work, most of the energetic heroes tends to be ultra hyper and annoying.”

“What will you do if the publishers asked you to write porn?”

I frowned, submerging half of my face into the water “...”

“You always avoid anything that seems remotely sexual whether it involves you or not big brother, I’m not sure if you will be able to make it past some publishers who wants the authors to write porn first.”

“I will reject those and find other publishers.”

“Yeah but you might not be so well known.”

I frowned, lowering myself so that my back is on the bottom of the tub.

“Why are you so adverse to sex anyway? It can’t have been because of that Red guy, you seem pretty put off by couples kissing even back then.”

“Mom and Dad...”

“Huh?”

“I saw them do it seven years ago...”

“Wait you saw Mom and Dad do it?”

“Yeah...”

“I-I see, but Kleude you know Mom really wants you to get married and have a family, you have to do it, Mom really wants grandchildren that belongs to you, you know.”

“Jet I really don’t want to have kids, I don’t care for them and dealing with Sarah is enough as it is.”

“But Mom will be heartbroken!”

“I know but I don’t want a family, it will be hard to raise a kid you know.”

“Are you going to tell Mom that?”

“I don’t know...”

We didn’t say anymore after we finished up and change into our night clothes.

We headed for bed as Sarah headed into the bathtub.

I clutched my bed sheets thinking about Mom, should I tell her the truth? She will be devastated her eldest child refuse to have a child and is in love with a boy, on the other hand I don’t want to hide myself from my family forever.

This is so confusing...


	55. Chapter 55

31/12/2010

The year is almost over, I was looking for a publisher to get my work published.

“Gees that art is actually kinda cute” said the publisher.

“So I can get my work published?” I asked.

“Well about that young man... You need to publish a successful manga before you can publish your own ideas.”

“You mean...”

“Yes you have to work on our suggestion first before you can start your own.”

“I’m not going to write porno right?”

“No.”

“Okay then...” I signed the contract, I might have not much chance if I refuse, might as well accept the first one that doesn’t hit my nightmare “So what shall I start with sir?”

“You can start with a simple Shonen manga.”

“Okay...”

“The character must be a passionate young man who wants to be the best detective of Asterrica who befriends a cold aloof young man who has joined the agency a few months before him and meets a fiery girl who he falls for.”

“I’ll try my best sir.”

“Be sure to complete each chapter in one week.”

When I headed back home I got some paper, pencil and black pen to get started, a detective Shonen huh...

I need to think about what characters to create before starting anything.

I scratched my head, the hero is a spunky young man with bushy brown hair like a mop a wisp of facial hair, big blue eyes, thick eyebrow and a tall lean build.

The other detective is tall, very skinny, with a wispy moustache, sleepy eyes with bags on his eyes and long black messy hair.

Now the last main character is the girl, I don’t like fiery girls though... it’s gonna be hard to create someone like that.

I’ll stick with someone with long glossy raven black hair, blue eyes and a slim build with long legs.

With that done I have to start thinking about the plot, how would the hero join the cops and become a detective...

I wrote down the plot, the hero Junpei will be involved in a disaster and suspect something and somehow helped the police and joins the rank where he swear he will be the best detective in the agency.

Well then time to do a few pages then!

I sketched the first page in pencil to make sure it’s perfect before I ink them.

Mom looked at my sketches “They are cute” she said.

I smiled at her as she passed by to drink some water.

I stopped after the fifth page to take a break, it’s pretty long to do one page of detail and most manga have almost 20 pages per chapter.

I played with Jet and Sarah after this building a block tower for Sora to climb up on to save Toad.

Dad returned home, giving a peck on Mom’s cheeks.

He glanced at my comic frowning “Aren’t you a little too old to be drawing such childish pictures Kleude?”

“Ah I just got a contract to work on a comic Dad!” I said.

“You are so silly, they will surely cancel your work soon, no one other than kids would want stuff like this.”

“But Dad...”

“You should have honed realism like what school teaches you, not kiddie craps!” he put down my sketchpad, getting some leftover fish curry to heat in the oven.

I just stared at Dad as the others stared at me “Big brother what is wrong?” Sarah asked.

“...” I got up getting the sketchbook, Dad is right I can’t make a business with cutesy kiddie crap that looks like Super Mario Bros reject, I know the manga business doesn’t pay well and this will earn even less and I can’t afford to earn so little at all.

I headed to my bedroom sitting in a corner, I looked at the manga trembling, I don’t want to destroy it but maybe I’m just being foolish, I will never be able to realize my goal if I do stuff like this!

I scratched the pages with my fingers, destroying five pages of hard work to shreds, wimpering as the paper flew all over the room, I really don’t want to do this but Dad will go on insulting me if I don’t.

“Kleude are you okay?” Jet asked.

I gasped, picking up all the paper on the floor.

Jet opened the door and gasped “Big brother Kleude what are you doing!?”

I turned to face him gripping the shredded paper “I-I...”

“Why are you destroying all your hard work!?”

“I will just get this work cancelled!”

“But you put a heart into that work right?”

“...”

“Don’t listen to Dad, just do what your instinct say.”

I bit my lips looking at the shredded pages, he’s right I shouldn’t listen to what Dad says, I should follow my own path and listen to myself.

I frowned getting out of the bedroom and sitting on the living room to redo the pages.

Dad saw me “Gees you are still at it?”

I glared at him.

“I’m telling you the publishers will not like your work and no one around you will like it either, it will flop and they will cancel your work eventually.”

“I don’t care.”

“What!?”

“I said I don’t care, if my work does get cancelled so be it, but I won’t do it any other way other than my own since that’s how I think it should be done.”

“Why you... just you wait, your work will be the laughing stock in public!” he stormed to Mom’s bedroom in a rage, I blew a raspberry, it’s my path, I will decide what I do, I don’t care what he thinks anymore!

After I redone the five pages I yawned heading to the bedroom to sleep.

As I arrived I took a look at the time, 11.30 PM. Just half an hour and 2010 will end and 2011 arrive but it will be another two months until I’m 18. I feel so old next to Jet, Blood and Ariel let alone Sarah...


	56. Chapter 56

7/1/2011

I got the manga Detective Legend published, I shall wait to see how sale goes but according to the publisher if it does badly it will be cancelled after 10 weeks and even if it’s successful it can be cancelled at anytime if it fails for several weeks.

I decided to celebrate by spending some time with Blood in his house.

“Congrats Kleude for getting your work published!” Blood cheered putting his arms around me.

“Thanks” I said.

“I hope your work is successful and you make your family proud.”

“Yeah I hope so...”

“So what do you want to do?”

“How about spend some time playing some games on your bedroom?”

Okay!”

Inside his bedroom we played One Piece Pirate Carnival in tournament mode, he’s Zoro while I’m Tashigi and we have twelve random CPU, we shuffled the orders so neither of us get eliminated too soon from facing each other.

Somehow for some reason we are on opposing ends...

“Gees I have to face nasal voice Captain Kuro...” Blood groaned.

During the matches we have a chat.

“Man if my friends back on Gunrock town could see this.”

“Haven’t you ever returned back to your old place?”

“Nah, it’s too far away and besides I like being with my current friends.”

“Oh...”

Somehow both of us ended up being our own final boss.

“Hope you are prepared Kleude” Blood said.

“You too Bloody” I said.

Blood is much better than I am at this so he managed to beat me up and win.

Though I get to be on second place with the last person I beaten, Sanji being third.

“Ahhh that was fun...” said Blood shutting off the PS2.

“Yeah” I said.

He smiled at me, kissing me on the lips, we shut our eyes taking in the kiss, when suddenly I felt my back on the ground and his body on top of me.

I opened my eyes to see Blood collapsed on my body, blushing red.

“S-sorry” he said “I just leaned a little too much...”

“...” we just stared at each other going red faced, he pulled himself off me, I got up as well.

“I-I didn’t mean to touch you like that!”

“It’s okay Blood, it’s just so surprising...”

“Are you going to go home or are you hiding from your father again?”

“I’m going home, nothing happened at home yet.”

“Okay hope I didn’t held you back for too long.”

I grinned waving to him goodbye before leaving his house.

I waved to Mrs Maverick a goodbye as well on the way out.

However when I returned home I noticed something was off, Jet is pale as a ghost and Sarah is crying on the living room.

My own face went white when I saw Mom collapsed on the kitchen, I rushed to her, helping her up hoisting her on my shoulders.

“Mom are you okay!?” I asked.

Mom opened her eyes turning her head slowly to look at me “K-Kleude?” her voice is weak and strained.

“Whew you are still alive...”

“I-I...” she coughed, putting all her weight on me.

I grunted, how do I get her to her bed? I can barely keep my balance let alone move.

“Need some help?” Jet asked.

“I would loooove help” I said.

After we hoisted Mom to bed, she opened her eyes “Ahh that feels better...” she said.

“Mom are you okay?” I asked.

“Yeah just very tired...”

“You should rest, it isn’t good to stress yourself.”

“Hmmm...” she closed her eyes dozing off.

Both of us headed out of the bedroom, leaving Mom to rest for the day.

“Is Mommy okay?” Sarah asked.

“She’s just very tired, leave her alone for the day Sarah” said Jet.

“Oh...”

We sigh trying to do something to occupy Sarah’s time while Dad is still walking around town. He does that a lot now when he’s back, he doesn’t want to see Mom so sickly and weak so he’s away most of the time.

Dad eventually returns home when all of us have to go to bed, by then he’s so tired he can barely notice Mom as he head for bed himself.

During sleeping time I started thinking about what will happen next in the manga since I have to work on it tomorrow.

12/1/2011

Somehow I managed to get all 20 pages done in only five days, I decided to do the next one tomorrow so I would always be ready by the end of the week.

On the bad side Mom is getting too ill to get out of bed anymore so we have to get her food, drink and whatever other items she need for her. Sometimes it can be very hard as she cannot decide what she wants and it upsets Sarah and Dad to see her change her mind never really deciding until she finally gives up.

Today Mom is in another one of those days.

“I need some hot water and riceballs...” she said.

I nodded heading to the kitchen to get some riceballs to microwave and a jug of water with a glass.

Mom frowned when she bit on the riceball “Can I have oatmeals instead?”

“Yes Mom...” I said.

However since I can’t cook I have to use the instant oatmeal with some hot water from the water dispenser instead of using the one that has to be boiled on the saucepan.

Mom just stared at the oatmeal “I don’t want this, get me some cheese sandwich instead.”

I groaned heading out of the living room, it’s difficult when you are the only person at home and you can’t cook so you have to resort to instant of figure out how to prepare stuff without breaking a nail or cutting my hands up.

Maybe I should get my nails trimmed, it’s just too easy to break and have a bloody finger with nails this long and I have to be careful when touching anyone or I’d just pierce their skin.

After Mom is finally satisfied I headed back to my bedroom to get my nails trimmed.

Jet and Sarah returned by then heading for the bedroom.

“Hey big brother what are you doing?” Jet asked.

“Just getting a nail trimming” I said.

“Why?”

I looked at my fingers with most of my nails clipped to a more reasonable length “Well Mom demands a lot you know, I have to make stuff that are easy enough to make and I can’t afford to have a broken nail, it hurts like crazy.”

“Just don’t hurt yourself or do anything dangerous okay?”

I nodded getting out of the bedroom for dinner.

It’s a bit lonely to have dinner without Mom, everyone is completely silent just finishing up our meal.

After washing the plates and glasses I headed for the entrance, I want to see Ariel today.

“Kleude what are you doing?” Jet asked.

“Just want to go visit Ariel, I’ll be back before bedtime” I said.

“...”

After getting her butler to lead me to her room, I waited for Ariel to get the door.

“Hello Kleude” said Ariel.

“Hi” I said.

She let me into her room, sitting on her bed “What is it?”

“Just want to spend some time with you.”

“Hmmm...”

“So how are things Ariel?”

“Fine, Mom hanging out at the pub for a very long time gambling, Dad being busy and... Actually I saw Mom and Dad together with some very strange toys earlier today.”

“Huh?”

“I seen it a few times when Dad has returned home Mom would put her arms around Dad and take him to their bedroom with a seductive look, holding some items, this time she has a string of little round beads and a strange ring. When when I tried to overhear what was going on there were loud moan with Mom screaming about how wonderful it is to be inside of Dad, but what those toys do I don’t know...”

“...” I tried covering my face but Ariel notices.

“I guess I should stop talking about what Mom and Dad does in the bedroom.”

“I’m sorry but this talk is disturbing.”

“I’m sorry for talking about that.”

“...My brother and you love each other a lot huh?”

“Yes.”

“Are you two ever going to do it?”

“Why do you ask?”

“It’s just that, sex is such a risky thing, you could get pregnant and it might destroy your life like what happened to-“

“No we plan to wait until we are both eighteen.”

I nodded “Okay that’s fine with me but...”

“It’s okay if you are not ever going to do it, not everyone needs to have sex you know.”

“I know...”

“Kleude there is something I must tell you.”

“Huh?”

“It’s about the time I dated with Blood.”

I bit my lip “Yes?”

“Do you know why we broke up? He told me he is having feelings for boys that are different from how he thinks about me.”

“...”

“I’m sorry that you have to know about it, that your best friend is-“

“I’m fine with it, I-I...” Ariel raised her head up, I shook my head “It’s nothing Ariel.”

“...” she stared at me with her big purple eyes wide, I cringed to myself mentally, its like a frog staring at me.

“I-I think I should go home, it’s getting a bit late.”

“Okay I won’t keep you waiting.”

I waved to her getting out of her mansion, I don’t know whether to tell Ariel that I’m dating Blood or not but maybe it’s best to wait for a few years.


	57. Chapter 57

13/2/2011

I can’t believe time moves so fast, I’m already no longer a kid and is truly reaching adulthood!

My family and friends gathered on the kitchen for my birthday with a plate of food on the table that Ariel, Jet and Blood prepared. A carrot cake is on the middle of the table.

We have to help Mom up to celebrate as well.

“Happy birthday 18th birthday Kleude!” everyone cheered.

“T-thank you!” I said.

Everyone clapped my hand as I blew the candle on the cake and cut a slice for everyone before taking the last one for myself.

“My boy you are a man now!” Dad cheered slapping my back.

“Y-yeah D-Dad...” I said.

“I got something for you to try” he headed to his bedroom before returning with a bottle of orangey golden drink.

“Beer...” I said.

“You are giving alcohol to Kleude?” Mom asked.

“Well he’s 18 now, we had drank a cup before, he should drink at least one cup as well” said Dad.

“Yeah but...”

“Don’t worry I’m sure he can hold one cup.”

After I drank my glass of water, Dad poured beer on the cup, the smell is pretty strong.

I looked at the amber coloured liquid, shutting my eyes gulping down the drink, I slammed the glass coughing, it’s so bitter and it tastes horrible!

“Big brother are you okay?” Sarah asked.

“Yeah but that drink just taste so vile...” I said.

Dad grinned sealing the bottle cap.

I got another cup filling it with water to get rid of the strong alcoholic taste out of my mouth.

Everyone else cleared the table after finishing up the cake, we have to help Mom back to the bedroom to rest.

We were about to head out of her room to spend some time together when Mom called me.

“I’ll just talk to my mom for a while, I’ll see all of you later” I said, shutting the door.

I looked at Mom, she looks so pale and week on the bed, clutching her heart trying to look at me “You are so big now...” said Mom trying to lift her hands letting out some painful groans.

“Don’t move your body too much Mom, you need to rest” I said.

She sigh collapsing on the bed, I wanted to put my arms around her but I could hurt her “You are an adult now... you can finally have a family...”

“Mom...”

“It’s okay if you are not ready now... I won’t mind how long it will be until you are ready.”

I looked away, my ears sagging “I-I...”

“I’m sure there will be a nice girl who loves you for the way you are, are you still with your girlfriend?”

“Yes...”

“Maybe she will want to marry you and you two will be happy together and have a family.”

I shut my eyes gritting my teeth “I don’t know...”

“I know you were scared after what happened eight years ago but I’m sure you will overcome that soon.”

I wish I could but after Red’s affair, somehow I don’t want to do it... I don’t want to use others or get infected with diseases/give diseases. Sure there’s the condom thing mentioned in school but still...

“Just wait, even if I’m still not around I want you to be happy you know” she yawned, shutting her eyes.

I bent my back kissing her forehead “Goodnight Mom...”

I headed outside of the bedroom where everyone else is trying to cheer Sarah up.

“I’m done talking to Mom” I said.

“Cool! What shall we do now?” Blood asked.

“How about a walk on the meadow?” I said.

“Okay!”

Sarah waved to us goodbye as Dad continued to play with her.

We headed off to the meadow to hang out for an hour.

“It’s so relaxing...” said Jet, staring at the pond.

“And so romantic” said Ariel.

“But I bet the forest past those trees would be exciting” said Blood.

“Isn’t that where predators wander around?”

“Yeah but I bet it would be like an RPG down there where we find rare herbs that can heal all sorts of fatal disease while we go against the perils of tigers, wolves and cheetahs!”

“Rare herbs?” I said.

“Yeah I heard that there are herbs that are used to make medicine that can cure even the deadliest diseases like venom poisons and-“ he stopped when he saw me staring at the forest.

“Rare herbs...”

“Hey you wouldn’t want to go in there alone you know” said Ariel.

“But still if there are herbs that can cure Mom’s cancer...”

“But she’s so far ahead, are you sure it will work?” Jet asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Don’t be so down!” Blood slapped my back “I’m sure that the stuff all of you have been doing for Mrs Fleming will help her recover!”

“I hope so...”

We laid on the grass enjoying the cool air when Ariel rolled to Jet’s side “Hey can we have some time together alone?” she asked.

“Er okay?” said Jet getting up, the two of them headed out of the meadow to talk in private.

Blood and I stared at each other “What are they up to?” he asked.

“I don’t know.”

“Should we check what’s up? I mean Jet is your little brother.”

“I’m sure he’ll be fine, it’s not like they are going to take their clothes off.”

Blood cocked an eyebrow “You are okay about their relationship?”

“Yeah...”

“Do you think they will get married someday?”

“Maybe.”

“Do you ever want to get married?”

My eyes widened, I shifted myself closer to him “Me get married?”

“Yeah.”

“Gees I don’t know Blood, Dad will kill me if I get married to you.”

“Don’t worry we can get together in my house, he will never know.”

“Hmmm...”

He grabbed my hands “I want to get married to the person I love you know but if you don’t want to its okay.”

“I will think about it...”

He grinned taking his hands off rolling back to his original position.

Ariel and Jet returned shortly after.

“Hey you two are back” said Blood.

I squinted my eyes, Jet has a blush on his face “What were you two up to?” I asked.

“We were just talking about stuff” he said “Nothing for you to know about.”

I frowned, crossing my shoulders, there’s definitely something he’s hiding.

“Have any of you guys thought about what we will be when we grow up?”

“Huh?” Blood cocked his head.

“I mean we are all going to be fifteen and we have only three years in school, are any of you going to college?”

“Yes” said Ariel.

“Me too” said Blood.

“I am going to one as well” said Jet “But what do all of you want to be?”

“I’d like to be gym teacher, teaching kids to enjoy sports!”

“Hmm maybe I will be a swimming coach” Ariel mumbled “What about you Jet?”

“I think I’ll be a baby sitter” he said.

“So I guess all of us have decided what we will do.”

They nodded saying they will see each other once they are done.

I was in a corner just listening to them, so the others have a goal as well and they will go to college, I will miss them if any of them have to go to another town.

“Hey Kleude looks a bit down” said Ariel.

“He will probably miss one of us if we leave Asterrica” said Jet.

“Don’t worry” Ariel patted my back “We will try to see you if we can, just work on what you are doing okay?”

I nodded, Ariel smiled at me nodding her head.

After our curfew passed we have to leave and head back home.


	58. Chapter 58

25/3/2011

I got called out by the editor today.

“Young man I have bad news for you” he said.

“My work didn’t sell well did it?” I asked.

“Yes... you know that if your work doesn’t sell well by ten issues it has to be cancelled.”

I nodded.

“I’m sorry but you have to do another manga now and if that doesn’t go along well we will have to cancel it as well.”

“Yes sir...”

“This time we will ask you to do a historical manga about ninjas, please do your best.”

“Yes sir!” I headed out of the office, I should have been sad to see my first work cancelled but somehow I don’t care, at least I didn’t head in the direction I didn’t want to go to.

I headed back home after this.

“Hey big brother!” Sarah cheered putting her arms around me.

“How is it?” Jet asked.

“...My work got cancelled” I said.

“Too bad...”

I frowned “Time to start all over again.”

“Well on the good side you are earning some money right?”

I nodded, sitting on the cushion to plan the next idea.

After hours of work on five pages, I decided to take a break and take a walk around town. It’s not often I ever took a walk on Asterrica despite living in here all my life.

Two familiar women with dark skin and dark green hair were passing by, they stopped when they saw me.

“Hey it’s that antisocial friend of Blood!” Mari yelled.

“Asocial Mari” said Rose “At least that’s what I’m assuming he seems harmless far as I know.”

I stared at the two women “H-hello?” I said.

“How does it feel to be out of school?” Mari asked “Blood told me you were picked on in school, it must be really upsetting!”

“It did get better on the final year, but it is nice to never see those people in school again.”

“Are you in college?”

“No, I’m working, I can’t afford to go to college without landing the family into financial problems and anyway I don’t want to endure people like my classmates again...”

“Oh too bad... you could get a better job if you went to college.”

“I know but I’m satisfied with what I’m doing now” I twitched my ears, how much does Blood’s classmates know about his friends outside of school?

“Are you dating Mr Kitty?”

“Why?”

“Just curious.”

“Hmm...”

“Mari leave him alone, he probably doesn’t want us to know” said Rose.

“But I’m curious!” said Mari.

“Let it go, if someone doesn’t want you to know something it’s best not to pester them.”

Mari sighed as she followed her older sister.

I sigh in relief, well at least his classmates don’t know about my love life, hopefully not just Mari.

On the way I caught sight of Moton clutching a piece of paper on his hand crying, I pretended to ignore him passing by.

I stopped when I felt my hair being tugged at “You didn’t think I would notice you huh Goldilocks?”

“I was just passing by” I said.

“Whatever you dense little blonde” he let go of my hair “you will never understand anything.”

I soothed my aching scalp, walking past Moton.

“You will never understand you useless piece of cat shit, my dreams are shattered!”

I stopped, turning my head “Wha!?”

“They rejected me, I won’t be a doctor now! What did I do wrong? They said that I was not patient or understanding enough, what could that possibly mean?”

I could just tell him that he was a big jerk but somehow I get this feeling he will just get pissed off. I shook my head walking away leaving Moton crying to himself.

When I returned home Jet and Sarah are exhausted from tending to Mom.

I look at them, they need some cheering up today...

“Hey you two how about we spend some time tonight having some fun?” I asked.

“What shall we do big brother?” Sarah asked.

“Hmm...”

“I want to with the dollies!”

“Dolls?”

“Yeah let’s go rescue Princess Peachy from the horrible giant shelled turtle!”

“Sure why not?” said Jet.

“Yay!”

We got out the Peach, Bowser, Bowser Jr, pink Yoshi, Mario, Luigi and Daisy dolls to play with.

Jet took the Bowser doll and I took Bowser Jr as we approached the Peach doll.

“No I’m surrounded by big spikey turtles with red hair again!” Sarah screamed clutching Peach as we got closer and took the doll from Sarah balancing her on top of Bowser’s shell.

We giggled as Sarah picked up Mario, Jet picked up Luigi and I picked up Daisy as we get past our other toys to stop Bowser and his son, saving Peach.

“Yay Mario saved his wife!” she took Peach to make her kiss Mario.

I snatched Mario away “No! Mario is married to Daisy!”

“He is not married to some loud annoying girl, Peach is way better!”

“No Daisy is better, she can fight Bowser just by slapping him!”

Jet just watched us helplessly as we kept pulling Mario to Peach and Daisy arguing about who is he married to, but that’s okay it happens from time to time.

We stopped when a loud scream pierced through the room “Mom!” all of us yelled, heading for her bedroom.

She was coughing and crying on her bed, clutching her blankets “Mom are you okay!?” I asked.

Mom didn’t say anything just grasping her heart and crying.

“Mommy don’t cry, I’ll make you feel better” said Sarah about to hug Mom but Jet pulled her back.

“She’s weak, you’ll only hurt her!” he yelled.

“B-but-“

Mom wiped the tears from her face looking at all of us “My heart feels so heavy...” she said.

“Mom...” I touched her hand lightly but she let out a painful whine, I lifted my hand away.

“I love all of you kids if only I could be around to be with you three more often...”

“You will make it Mom if we j-just...” my voice fell.

She looked away crying on her blanket “This hurts so much... I-I can’t do anything at all I-“

“Mom you are getting your blanket wet.”

“...”

I looked at her helplessly crying, she looks so hopeless and weak now getting constant aches everywhere.

I ran out of the bedroom, I don’t want to see Mom in this state! “Kleude!” Jet yelled as I headed off.

I stopped when I was outside the bedroom praying inside my mind, please god please don’t take Mom away from us, please let Mom recover and be with us longer, she doesn’t deserve to die!

Jet and Sarah came out of the bedroom, staring at me as they passed by heading back to the playroom, I looked at them, they need Mom as well... I hope she will recover even if it will take a long time to get her strong again.


	59. Chapter 59

10/1/2012

It was one of our many many visits to the hospital, Sarah is trying to cheer Dad up, Jet is reading a book and I’m doing another manga, it’s the fifth I’ve done now.

A doctor came out of the room Mom is in, “Can the family of Elm Fleming come inside?” she asked.

All of us headed inside the room where Mom is lying on bed.

Sarah is sitting on Dad’s shoulders tugging at his hair.

“I’m afraid I must announce bad news for all of you” she said.

All of us gasped, Sarah even stopped tugging at Dad’s hair.

“The disease has passed to her whole body and it’s at a point we cannot do anything to stop them.”

“Do you mean that Elm is going to...” said Dad when he choked.

“We are sorry we tried to do our best but I’m afraid we cannot do anything now.”

“H-how long will she live?” I asked.

“One year at most.”

The entire room is silent as the doctors helped Mom into a wheelchair.

I shook my head “No way Mom cannot just die she just can’t!” I yelled running out of the room.

I trembled, leaning on a wall, there is hope for her right? There is a miracle that will save her right? Just like that Katie woman, it is possible for Mom to survive right?

I peeked at the room, Jet and Dad are trying to comfort Sarah who is crying.

Back at home everyone is completely silent watching Mom on her bed, turning and moaning on the bed, she suddenly called for Dad.

“What is it Elm?” he asked.

“I...I...” she kissed Dad on the lips “Lloyd honey I want your sperm...”

I panicked Mom wants to do ‘it’!

“Sperm?” Sarah asked.

“Saliva, her speech is a bit distorted” Jet lied.

“Why does Mommy wants Daddy’s saliva?”

“Err...”

“Lloyd...” Mom moaned “I want you inside of me...”

“Elm the kids...” Dad hissed.

“Please fuck me right now...” she lifted inserted her hand inside Dad’s shirt.

I screamed, dragging Jet and Sarah out of the room.

“Aww why did you take us out of the room?” Sarah asked.

I didn’t say a word as Sarah tugged on Jet’s shirt.

“Big brother Jet what is sex?”

“Err well Mom and you are female, Dad, Kleude and I are male.”

“What’s the difference?”

“Well you will find out when you get older, that’s why we don’t bathe together.”

“Oh.”

There were moans passing through the bedroom.

“What is Daddy doing to Mommy!?” Sarah yelled.

“He is errr making her better and she’s enjoying herself” said Jet.

“Oh...”

“There must be a way to cure Mom...” I said.

“What?” they asked.

“There must be a way to cure Mom! She can’t just leave now!”

“But Kleude they said there is no way to treat her anymore!” Jet yelled.

“But I’m sure there must be a way...”

“There is no way-“ I slapped his face.

“There must be a way! We can’t just sit around waiting for Mom to die like this!” I ran out of the house heading for Ariel’s house, there must be a way to cure Mom!

Ariel was surprised when I arrived, she was playing New Super Mario Bros with Blood “Kleude what are you doing here?” she asked.

“Can I use your computer?” I asked.

“Why?”

“There’s something I want to look up, please let me use your computer.”

Ariel got up to turn on her computer.

“Hey there” said Blood.

“Hello...”

“You don’t look so good, what happened?”

“M-Mom s-she... she will die!”

“You mean that all your family did was useless!?”

“Yes...”

“I’m sorry that your mother has to-“

I shook my head “There must be a way to save her!”

“But how are you going to do that?”

I turned to Ariel, her computer is already turned on...

I sat on the chair typing out a cure for heart cancer, there isn’t much luck finding a result for what I want.

“What are you doing Kleude?” Ariel asked.

“Probably finding a cure for his mother” said Ariel.

“Huh?”

“She’s going to die soon, I think her cancer must be in the terminal stage.”

“Oh! Kleude you can’t cure her anymore, it’s beyond curable now!”

I stopped at one page, a cure for heart cancer!

I looked up the article, could this really save Mom? I need some herbs, I don’t recall them on the store at all. I looked up the herbs.

My eyes widened they are found on the forest past the meadow in town!

I looked up on how to make the medicine, I will have to ask Jet or Ariel to boil the herbs, I don’t want to risk burning them.

I took a look at my nails, it’s long and sharp, I need those to defend myself from wild animals when I head into the forest.

“Kleude?” Ariel asked.

“I will go and get the herbs, I will do anything to save Mom.”

“But the forest is dangerous, you could get killed!”

“I don’t care, if it’s worth saving Mom I will risk my life for her!”

I got out of the chair running out of the room, I will get the herbs right now if that’s the last thing I do!

“Kleude, wait about that article-“

I didn’t hear everything they said as I exited the mansion.

I arrived at the forest pushing past a few bushes, everything is so dark... I can barely see a thing as I wandered around squinting my eyes trying to not get caught by the animals wandering around.

I was caught by a few wild tigers but I managed to distract then by clawing at their faces.

After I got all of the herbs I sigh in relief, heading out of the forest when a loud growl caught my attention, I turned around, a leopard is about to pounce onto me!

I screamed trying to run away but it caught up to me, I tried to scratch it’s face but it managed to pin my wrists on the ground, however my legs are free, do animals have genitals like humans do?

I lifted my leg to kick the leopard, it cried, lifting itself, I quickly got away before it could catch me again.

My wrists are aching and bleeding from the claws of the leopard but I have to get the herbs back home.

On the way I saw Ariel and Blood, they seem to be following me.

“Oh Kleude you are safe!” they yelled.

Ariel gasped when she saw my wrists “Oh did you get attacked?”

“Yes...”

“You should get those wounds treated!”

“I know...”

“Maybe we should head back to your home, it’s the closest one at the moment” said Blood.

I nodded as I clutched my bloody wrists as Ariel and Blood carried the herbs for me.

As we headed back Ariel suddenly spoke up “Kleude there is something I have to tell you about the medicine, it won’t work.”

“...”

“It will only work if the person is still in the early stage, your mother is too far ahead for it to work.”

“I-I...”

“I know how you feel, you love your mother very much and you don’t want her to die like that but we can’t do anything about it anymore.”

I collapsed on their arms “Mom...”

“It’s okay, we are here for you” said Blood.

“What did Mom ask for to get this? She didn’t do anything wrong!” I broke away from their arms running back to my house.

The house is dark, everyone must be in bed now.

I turned on the light to look for some bandages, tissue and ointment for my wrists.

I hissed as I moved my aching wrists trying to remove the blood, disinfect the wound and bandage it up.

After getting both wrists bandaged up I headed to the bedroom, Jet and Sarah are so tired out they didn’t notice as I got changed and headed for bed.


	60. Chapter 60

16/7/2012

It’s been several months, Dad is getting desperate over Mom, trying to make sure her life doesn’t shorten anymore and making sure she is always happy.

He barely has time for any of us to tend to Mom whenever he’s around.

Tonight Jet and I are relaxing in the meadow enjoying the beautiful lake and scenery around us.

“Ahh it’s nice to relax with just the two of us...” said Jet.

“Hmmm” I stared at the lake.

“I’m amazed that you are still keeping your job, your works have been cancelled so often.”

“Well I like it even if I do get cancelled every ten weeks.”

“I’m sure your girlfriend must be proud of you” he frowned “How come I never seen her before?”

“She’s err shy and she doesn’t like to show her face too much...”

“Will you two ever get married?”

“Maybe...”

“But you don’t want a family even with her do you?”

I shook my head “No I don’t want to take her virginity and-“ I clamped my mouth.

“But you love her don’t you?”

“Yeah...”

“Do you two plan to be on a chaste relationship forever?”

“Yes...”

“...”

“What about you?”

“I don’t really know if I want a family with Ariel or not, I love her but...”

I fiddled with my hair “Do whatever you want, I will cheer for you at all times.”

“So will I.”

I looked away, he will not be so encouraging if he knew who my ‘girlfriend’ is.

“Oh!” Jet got up “I’m supposed to meet up with Ariel on a date at a cafe, I’ll see you during bedtime!”

I waved goodbye to Jet as he headed off.

Well I’m alone now just sitting around doing nothing, should I visit Blood tonight?

After Mrs Maverick got the door for me I headed to Blood’s bedroom, he’s doing some weird poses in the middle of the room.

He smiled at me “Oh hey Kleude!”

I wave back to him when he put his arms around my neck “Bloody...” I nuzzled my cheeks on his spikes.

“You are so beautiful...” he muttered running his hand down my hair “The most beautiful-“

“If I were ugly you would not say the same thing” I scowled.

“No no I mean you are beautiful on the inside” he poked at where my heart is “It doesn’t matter if you are good looking or not, you are good on the inside is more important.”

I patted his head sighing.

“So what shall we do tonight?”

“How about some video games?”

“You pick tonight, my treat.”

I shook my head looking through the discs and cartridges.

I took out Mario Party 3.

We went with our usual favourites with Wario and Yoshi as opponents on Woody Woods.

Yoshi is being very stupid, paying for items when he’s close enough to a star preventing him from getting a star, buying a lot of duelling gloves to bet a coin count fewer than the price he paid and losing a lot of money.

However Wario is surprisingly clever saving up money, only buying things he need, even winning Gameguy...

Little did we know Wario won with me second, Blood third and Yoshi last.

“Whoa Wario is good...” said Blood.

“Yeah...” I nodded.

He stared at me “Damn I’m still much shorter than you...”

“I guess you take after your mother in height then?”

He hissed bitterly, frowning “Urg I hate being shorter than Ariel even now.”

I patted his head “I get you...”

He grinned tackling me down the ground, “Thanks.”

“Mm no problem.”

His grin got even bigger as his hands part away from my shoulders, I got up holding his hands “I hope all of you will be able to manage without your mother...”

“...”

He sigh moving closer to my face shutting his eyes, I shut my eyes as well, waiting for a kiss, I let out a light moan as soon as his lips touched mine taking in his warm mouth, giving him back a feeling he will love as well.

When we pulled off I felt Blood’s hands running to my ears “I always wondered how you and your family got cat ears and a tail?”

“I don’t really know much about the story behind my species.”

“Your ears are so soft... I wonder how it’s like to have ears like yours.”

“I wonder how you and Ariel got little round ears without any fur myself.”

“I’m not hurting you am I?”

“No” in fact inside my mind I thought it was nice to feel his hands running down my ears.

“Your ears are almost as soft as your hair and so smooth...”

“Mmmhh...” I let out a disappointed groan when he withdrawn his hands.

“Maybe it’s time for you to go home?”

I turned my head to look at the clock, its 10:00 now! I have to head back home!

I wave goodbye to Blood running back home.

Jet was at the front door “Welcome back home big brother!”

“Hey.”

Jet stared at me his eyes squinting “You’re blushing.”

“Err...” I hid my face.

“Were you hanging out with your girlfriend?”

“Yeah...”

“I’m amazed you can even get a girlfriend with how easily flustered you are over this kind of stuff.”

“I’m sorry but I don’t want to talk about this” I ran to our bedroom covering my face.

On the way I heard moans from Mom’s bedroom, I stopped my movement, Dad is trying so hard to make sure she lives as long as possible but she is still suffering so much, we have no idea how long she will live at this rate.

“Kleude?”

“Mom is suffering so much... Do you think it might really be better for her to die?”

“Y-you mean?”

“If that will end all of her pain maybe it’s a good thing after all!” I ran into our bedroom, collapsing on the bed, if that will really stop Mom’s sadness and pain, please just end her pain right now!

“Kleude...”

I raised my head up, Jet is sitting on the corner of my bed with his usual ponytail undone “J-Jet...”

“You don’t really mean it do you, you don’t really want Mom to die do you?” his voice is trembling as he said all of that.

“... I don’t want her to leave but just look at her...”

Jet didn’t say anything, putting his hands on his face, I put my arms around him to comfort him.


	61. Chapter 61

29/11/2012

Autumn is coming to an end, Jet, Sarah, Dad and I are outside looking at leaves falling down every tree that isn’t completely bald. Soon every tree will be bald and covered with snow.

I picked up one leaf that was blowing on my direction blowing at the orange leaf.

“Look Daddy I’m spinning the leaf like a windmill!” Sarah cheered twirling a yellow leaf around, Dad smiled patting her head.

After an hour we decided to return home to see Mom, she’s in bed looking at the window.

“Isn’t it beautiful to see the leaves falling down?” Mom asked.

We looked at Mom, she said she wanted to be buried near our house, Dad already told her parents about it when he was off station but he will try to get them again to visit her grave.

“I would love to see the last autumn leaf on this tree fall down...” she turned to all of us “It’s wonderful to be with all of you, Lloyd my loving husband my three lovely children Kleude, Jet and Sarah...” she put her hands on her face crying.

“Elm...” said Dad.

“I wish I could be with all of you longer... to see all the kids married and have families”

“Mom...” I said.

“Yes Kleude dear?”

“I hope you will be happy in heaven even though we are not with you...”

“And I hope you will have a happy family with lots of children...”

I nodded.

“I hope all of you will have a happy future...”

“Don’t talk so much Elm” said Dad “Just rest.”

Mom nodded, dozing off to sleep.

Jet, Sarah and Dad headed out of the room, however I decided to stay, there is something I want to tell Mom and I might not get another chance to say this...

“Can all of you leave?” I asked “I want to talk to Mom alone.”

“Sure” said Jet, shutting the door for me, I waited until their footsteps began to fade, I looked at Mom, she woke up looking at me wearing a smile, I bit my lip she will be so upset...

“What is it?” she asked.

“Mom there’s something I want to talk to you” I said.

“Hmm is there anything wrong?”

“...” I looked away “I won’t be able to have kids...”

Mom stopped smiling “Is something wrong with your body? Are you unable to produce any sperm?”

“No my body is just fine, I think” I looked at Mom taking a deep breath “Mom I’m gay! I love boys!”

“W-wha? What are you saying?” Mom is shaking, her eyes are getting watery and her skin is pale now.

“I never had any attractions for girls, I-I only have eyes for boys.”

“W-what about your girlfriend?”

“I never had a girlfriend, she was never a girl...”

“W-who are you in love w-with?” she’s already crying now.

“Blood...”

“Your best friend?”

I nodded.

“H-how? W-why?” her voice is barely audible now as she clutched her pillow crying all over it.

“I don’t know Mom, I can’t help it, I can’t get rid of this, I don’t want to hide from myself!”

“My own oldest child is one of those horrible gay people... I can’t believe...”

“Mom I love you b-but-“ I noticed Mom is not moving “Mom?” I shook her lightly, she still didn’t move, she’s completely stiff with her eyes shut... my face turned white, she’s dead...

I looked at the window by her bed, there still some leaves on the tree by our house.

I tried to fight back tears, heading out of the room, I have to tell everyone Mom has died, and we have to start a funeral for her.

Everyone saw my face and judging by their expressions they knew it won’t be good news but they turned white as I announced that Mom is dead.

Dad has to travel to Mom’s parents area to take them to see Mom, Jet and I have to take put Mom in a coffin to mourn, we told Sarah to invite Ariel, Blood and their families over.

It was night time when Grandma and Grandpa arrived with Dad to mourn over Mom, Sarah and Jet are crying over me, I tried to cheer them up even though I was in the verge of crying myself.

After the mourning Dad took the coffin to bury it near our house with a carving that says ‘Elm Fleming 1975-2012, may you rest in peace’.

2/12/2012

Grandpa and Grandma stayed over for the funeral until it ended today and they have to go home.

“Cheer up all of you” said Grandma to Jet, Sarah and me “Please don’t be too upset over your mother death, all of you must be strong for her.”

Dad has to take them back home, on the meantime Jet, Sarah and I visited Mom’s graveyard.

“Mommy we will miss you so much!” said Sarah.

I just stared at the gravestone “Mom...”

“Mom, please be happy in heaven, we will go on without you” said Jet.

“Don’t cry for us!” said Sarah.

Jet sigh tugging at Sarah’s ears “We should head for lunch now.”

As Sarah and Jet headed back inside the house I stayed by the grave “I’m sorry Mom...” I whispered “But I have to tell you the truth... I hope it didn’t upset you too much...”

During lunch of bangers and mash, I worked on the comic, it’s getting difficult to focus, this time I have to do two highschoolers struggling with life, I still have three more chapter to do before they announce the sales and consider whether it should get cancelled or not, I hardly care about getting cancelled anymore, it has gone on so often already.

Dad returned by night time, by then he was so exhausted after quickly gulping down dinner he headed for an early bed.

However the rest of us weren’t tired so we decided to visit our friends.

Blood and I were silent in his living room watching Sonic X when Blood suddenly spoke up.

“I’m sorry that your mother is gone...”

“...”

“It’s not your fault but nobody can do anything about her death...”

“Blood...”

“Hm?”

“I told her about our relationship...”

“Huh?” he stared at me, I raised my knees up to my chin.

“I have to tell Mom the truth, I don’t want her to die with false hopes, she has to know her dream will be shattered.”

“...”

Blood?”

“I wonder about the rest of your family, will they find out?”

“I don’t want us to hide our relationship forever.”

“I don’t want to either but your Dad will go nuts if he knew!”

“I know but...”

We didn’t say anymore as we finished the episode of Sonic X and some show called Winx Club is announced, Blood frowned changing the channels, he hated the show.

I sigh leaning next to him as Journey to the sky is shown on TV, we spent about one hour on the TV before we decided it was enough and I wanted to go home to sleep anyway.


	62. Chapter 62

3/1/2013

After getting the current chapter of my current manga done I was called over by the editors again, they must be calling me to announce that they have to cancel my work. Again.

Yet somehow they were smiling at me “We are impressed Mr Fleming” said an editor “You actually gain a lot of audience with your current work.”

My ears perked up, am I hearing things “Sorry but can you repeat that sir?” I asked.

“Your latest work sold well Mr Fleming.”

I cheered, finally I actually didn’t get cancelled!

“Keep up the good work and continue working on it.”

Heading out side of the office I screamed with joy, I can’t believe I actually got people to like my work! I must tell Jet and Sarah about this!

“Hey you are looking chirpy today” said Jet combing his hair on the living room.

“I did it!” I yelled “I actually managed to get enough sales to continue my current work!”

“Wonderful!” Jet yelled.

“Fantasticimo!” Sarah cheered.

“We should have a nice dinner tonight to celebrate this!”

I smiled my ears twitching in joy, if this can keep up...

I sketched chapter 11 while Jet and Sarah prepares a meal.

Dad returned home shortly before everything was ready, ever since Mom died he has been staying at home more often, wandering around town, it’s difficult to deal with him as he expects me to take care of Jet and Sarah and will lecture me on how to manage the house.

“Daddy!” Sarah cheered wrapping her arms around his hip.

Dad sigh sitting on the table.

“Big brother Kleude managed to do well in work!”

Dad grumbled as Jet settled lunch on the table.

“Thank you” I said digging into the rolled ham sandwich.

“Chow time!” Sarah cheered as everyone ate lunch.

After lunch and finishing up five pages, I headed to the bedroom to read a book and relax after a day of hard work.

A slam on the door caught my attention, I turned my head turning pale, Dad wants to talk to me again...

“Kleude Fleming” said Dad approaching me.

“Y-yes D-D-Dad?” I said.

“You are not doing a good job again getting your brother to cook lunch for you.”

“B-but Dad I have to do my job and I have to clean the house...”

“You shouldn’t rely on your little brother and sister they have school you know.”

“Well I can just grab some leftover or get some instant food where I just need to microwave or pour water...” my voice fell.

“You can’t just rely on leftovers or cheap food young man, you should learn how to cook.”

“But Dad I-“

“You are disgraceful young man, it’s bad enough you look like a woman but you refuse to make friends in school, cry when they do something to you, you have no right to complain young man!”

“D-Dad...” I my book slipped off my hand and hit the floor with a thud.

“You have to toughen up, your mother is dead and I’m busy so you have to take care of your brother and sister and I don’t take that work crap as an excuse, you can do more than what you are doing now.”

He stormed out of the room, I stayed on the bed thinking about what Dad said, maybe he’s right I’m not doing a very good job managing the house, I get Jet and Sarah to do all the cooking or we would just be eating instant food all the time, I’m doing badly on my job getting my works cancelled countless times and just giving problems to Jet back in school.

I wrapped my fists I’m such a useless brother and son to my family, I never do anything useful for them.

I stayed inside my room all afternoon when Jet came inside the room to call me out for dinner.

“Hey your dinner is getting cold” he said, he cocked his head “Ariel and Blood came over to hang out tonight.”

“Jet... do you think what Dad said is really true?” I asked.

“Err...”

“I’m no good...”

“Err Kleude?”

“I’m a horrible friend and brother to all of you!” I got out of bed “I never did anything for all of you, I just cause more trouble for everyone!”

“Maybe you should take a rest-“

“Please leave me alone alone!” I pushed Jet aside heading out of the house, I headed for the meadow tripping suddenly.

I groaned looking at what I tripped over, a rock I didn’t notice.

I groaned trying to get myself off the ground stopping by the lake.

I stared at my reflection off the lake, tears flowing down my face, I’m nothing but a burder to everyone, Blood had suffered from my classmates, Jet had to endure his classmates being cruel to him, Mom gotten weak for giving birth to me so young and now she’s dead and so many kids in school picked on me.

I clutched my shirt, my tears dripping into the lake, maybe it’s better for everyone if I kill myself.

But my family loves me no matter what and I’m sure they, Blood and Ariel will be shattered.

I can’t kill myself, I am helping them a little bit with my job and they need me.

And I don’t want to die just yet.

Kleude just stay strong I told myself.

“Kleude!” my eyes widened, Jet, Blood and Ariel are here!

“Please don’t kill youself!” Jet yelled, I gasped as he put his arms around me.

“You are not useless at all!” Blood yelled.

I gasped as Blood and Ariel also put their arms around me, I shook and cried as they told me that it wasn’t worth killing myself.

“I-I don’t want to die...” I mumbled.

“Huh?”

“I wasn’t going to kill myself, b-but...”

“You are not useless big brother” Jet whispered.

“I-I...” I looked away as they tightened their hug around me my tears still flowing down my cheeks.

“We’ll do whatever we can to help you” said Ariel wiping my tears off.

I trembled looking at everyone, they are all willing to help me, I hugged all of them thanking them for being so good to me.


	63. Chapter 63

6/6/2013

Tonight Jet, Sarah, Ariel and I are celebrating Blood’s seventeenth birthday at his house on the living room.

“Happy birthday Blood!” everyone cheered.

Blood grinned blowing the candle off his cake, cutting a slice for everyone.

“Just one more year and you’ll be a man” said Mrs Maverick hugging her son.

“Just like Dad!” he sigh “If only Dad is around to celebrate...”

“I’m sure he will try to see you next year.”

Blood piped up clapping his hands.

“So what shall we do now?” Jet asked.

“Hmm I’d like to spend some time with Kleude just playing some video games.”

“Okay then, Ariel let’s go home to do some studying.”

“Sure” said Ariel.

They headed out of the house with Sarah skipping all the way.

I sigh, holding Blood’s hand “Okay let’s go to my bedroom now!” he said.

OoOoOoO

As soon as we are on his bedroom, we locked the door just in case his mother decided to come in, we always like to be alone during moment like these. And it’s definitely not video games.

We hugged each other with Blood on his tippie toes on the corner of a wall kissing each other.

I never thought a kiss could be such a sweet and tender thing, I thought it would be uncomfortable before, but now I’m used to having him press his lips over him and giving him what he wants as well taking it in.

When we broke apart Blood relaxed back to his original height putting his arms around me, our height gap is still very big with the top of his hair touching my chin.

“Happy birthday again Bloody” I said resting my face on his hair.

“Thanks Kleude!”

I sigh nuzzling my head on his spikes.

“There is something I would like...”

“Mm?”

“C-can you...” his face went red “Can you suck on m-my dick?”

My eyes widened pulling apart from him “S-suck your penis!?”

“It’s okay if you don’t want to, I-I just think...”

I fiddled with my fingers, he wanted me to suck on him! I never thought he wanted to do something like that! I don’t want to do such a thing on my life, it’s just so weird... on the other hand it’s his birthday and I’m having a strange feeling on my groin for some reason “Get on the bed.”

His eyes widen “It’s okay Kleude if you don’t want to, I won’t force you to!”

“I will do it, just get on the bed.”

Blood nodded lying on his bed, watching me as I sat on my knees on the floor by the end of his bed that wasn’t leaning on the wall, slowly pulling down his pants he has a bulge on his underwear...

I touched his bulge with a finger, he began to wriggle about, throwing me off guard, of course the penis is sensitive, I should know by now.

I was about to push down his boxers when he raised his upper body off his bed touching the top of my head “Blood?”

“Why don’t you get on the bed? It’s more comfy here.”

I nodded pulling myself away from his legs, he shifted to the side so I have room.

I pushed down his boxers until his penis bobbed up from its restraint twitching slightly, I gasped at the sight of it I never seen anyone else’s privates except for Jet, Dad, Mom and my own before.

I shuddered at memories of back then seeing Dad’s huge hairy penis on Mom’s hairless vagina.

“What’s the matter?”

“N-nothing!” I looked at his penis touching the tip with my fingers, it’s smooth and a bit slimy... I lowered my fingers to the base putting my lips over the tip.

I lowered my mouth slowly, lowering my fingers removing them when my mouth was all the way down sucking all the way tasting his salty penis, Blood let out a loud moan during all of this.

I lifted my head up after a few seconds, the tip is making me almost gag! I pressed my tongue on the tip hitting the slit before starting over pumping myself over his erection.

I moaned as I sucked and pleasured him, there’s a strange feeling of something in my head rushing down my crotch, making my underwear feel so tight.

My eyes snapped open when I felt my pants being slid down, I removed my mouth looking at what Blood was doing.

My pants were pushed down so my own boxers are exposed “You are hard...” he said fingering at the hem of my boxers.

I shut my eyes as he pushed it down, my penis exposed to the cool air in his room, stiffening, somehow it felt so much better compared to being crushed on my boxers.

I moaned as his took my penis on his hands touching the tip, repeating what I just done to him.

We groaned as we sucked on each other, trying to give pleasure to each other when I felt a pressure on my testicles and judging by how loud Blood is getting he might have that feeling as well.

Shortly after something squirted out of Blood’s penis into my mouth and his penis went limp, I withdrawn my mouth. A thick white liquid that resembles yogurt is seeping through his slit...

Blood is still sucking on me but soon he stopped as well and I felt all the pressure on my genitals go away.

I sat on the edge of the bed getting tissues to wipe the liquid off our penises, lifting my boxers and pants up tossing the tissue away, Blood also pulled his pants up as we laid on the bed cuddling each other.

“Thank you for doing that for me” said Blood “Even if it must be awkward for you...”

“It was awkward yet somehow it felt kinda good...”

He smiled at me “That’s good...”

I sigh wrapping my arms around him.

“Kleude...”

“Yes?”

“I was wondering about something...” he gripped on my shoulders “I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable about this but I would like our bodies to meet together...”

“Meet together? What are you talking abo-“my eyes widened when I realize what he was implying... “Sexual intercourse!?”

He nodded “If you only want to that is, it’s your body after all.”

I held his hands trembling “But you are still too young Blood!”

“I’m ready for this, I will do it with you if you want.”

My eye lids lowered “...”

“It won’t be like Red, I love you, I’m not doing this just to satisfy myself! Everyone always say that it’s the best thing you can give to someone you love” he frowned “It’s not just him right?”

“H-how do you know?”

“You were always so adverse to those games Ariel have, avoiding those with the adults warning and you always cringe when anyone mentions sex.”

“...” the grip on his hand tighten.

“Is something bothering you, Kleude? Please tell me what is wrong!”

“It was when I was a kid... I saw Mom and Dad on the couch one night when I was getting a drink, when they suddenly took off their clothes, next thing I knew Dad inserted his penis inside of Mom” I looked away “I know I’m being silly over this b-but... to see Mom screaming and crying is so...”

“I understand how you feel, it must be creepy to see that a body part of yours inside somebody else.”

I nodded.

“But I’m sure your mother must have enjoyed it.”

“...”

“If you really don’t want to, I won’t ask for this again.”

I stared at Blood, his big brown eyes are so earnest... is what he said really true? It’s not just some quick pleasure thing but something for us to really show that we really do care for each other?

Then again Mom had to bear Jet, Sarah and I so maybe they really done it since they love each other so much.

I gave Blood a quick kiss “Okay Blood I will do it with you.”

“R-really?” he gasped.

I nodded.

His eyes shimmered as he release his hands to grip on my shirt “So what position should we take? There’s lying on the bed, there’s doggy style, there one where we lean on the wall, there’s sitting on a chair-“

“Huh? There’s more than one position?”

“Well I saw all these position on those manga I kept in my drawer.”

“Let’s just do it on the bed.”

He nodded proceeding to remove his shirt, I unbuttoned my own shirt, pushing it off down the floor, I looked at the shirt on the floor I’m actually going to take my virginity away to my best friend! We are really doing this! I looked at Blood, he has a very noticeable blush on his face as he removed his pants.

After removing my boxers, I laid back on the bed, by then Blood was completely bare as well, we took a look at each other’s bodies, Blood’s exercise is clearly visible with a flat stomach and no fat in his body. I felt rather self conscious that I am much scrawnier than he is despite being older and much taller. However he was staring at me taking in all of my body...

“You are so slender...” he whispered.

“And you’ve been working out haven’t you?”

“Yeah but I don’t have rippling muscles or abs.”

“You are perfect no matter what you are fine as you are.”

He sigh nuzzling his head on my chin, shifting his hips to meet mine and we embraced each other moaning as our penises rubbed together, suddenly a thought popped into my mind, who is doing the penetration? I looked at Blood’s innocent face, maybe he wants me inside of him but I’m not so sure if I want to feel myself inside of someone... I turned my head away thinking about what is going to happen.

“Hey why are you turning your head away?” he asked.

My eyes widened turning back to him “B-Blood I-I...”

“Are you really sure you want to do this? To have our bodies meet together.”

“Of course b-b-but...” I shut my eyes trying to get my words out when I felt one of his hands touching my ear.

“Who is going to be on top?”

“...”

“Are you worrying about that?”

“Yes...”

“What do you really want?”

“I don’t know, I’ll do whatever position you want-“

“I don’t mind what I take, I can pick whatever YOU want.”

“Hmmm...” I bent my back looking at him.

“If you want to be inside of me I won’t mind-“ he stopped when he saw me sweating “Do you want to be on top at all?”

“I don’t know if it pleases you I’ll go with it but I don’t know if I want to...” he pressed his finger to my lips. I looked at him as he shifted his body, moving me closer to the center with one of his arms, pressing our bodies closer together. He was soon on top of me putting his body weight on me.

He pressed his lips on mine but it was different from our usual ones, his tongue is touching my tongue, I moved my tongue moaning into his mouth as we lapped our tongues around, I’m amazed he managed to reach my mouth without touching my fang.

He pulled his tongue apart after about a minute pulling his upper body away from me “Kleude, do you want to be on the bottom instead?”

“Well if it’s okay with you, I don’t mind you inside of me” I said.

He smiled stroking my hair, moving his hands higher to my ears “I wonder how all your brown fur grows on your ears but not on the rest of your head. I used to believe that it was the same as the hair but you’re blonde so I guess it’s not the case”

“Gees I wish it was actually part of my hair.”

“But your hair is a lovely colour!”

I smiled at him, even though I hated my hair colour if he likes it, I’m fine with being blonde.

As he was stroking my ears his face went dangerously close to mine, I shut my eyes ready for a kiss but his hands were on my forehead instead, I opened my eyes he’s staring at me with his eyes so big and brown “Your deep emerald orbs are so enchanting...” he whispered.

“Gees what kind of line is that?” I asked “It’s pretty lame...”

“Sorry I saw that line in some of the games Ariel played and it turned on the person who heard that.”

I sigh petting his hair as he grinned “You are so bad at this Bloody...”

“But you are so stressed up, I know what to do really, just relax I’ll make you feel good!” somehow the tone in his voice and the way his hand is lingering on one of my ear tells me he is not so sure.

Blood’s hands ran to the end of my ears lifting himself a bit so he up to my height, what was he doing? I whimpered when I felt his tongue on the skin of my left ear “Oh I’m sorry, I must be hurting you!”

“N-no it’s just surprising!”

I felt his tongue on my right ear shivering at the stinging sensation, when he lowered himself to so that we meet face to face again, I lifted my hands to feel his little ears, his lobes were softer than the rest of ears but they were definitely harder than my ears and they were smooth as well.

I shifted my head to his right ear sticking my tongue on the shell earning a moan.

When I broke apart from him to my surprise he gently pushed me so my head in on the pillow, I gasped when he lowered his head, bending his back, kissing my neck before sucking lightly, I gritted my teeth when his teeth bit on my neck.

He released his mouth looking at me “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to bite you!”

“I-It’s okay...”

He put on a pathetic smile raising his head back, putting his hands on penis, stroking it with his fingers, touching the slit on the tip before lowering to my testicles.

“Do you like this?” Blood cocked his head with an utterly adorably clueless expression on his face.

I smiled patting his head, nodding.

He grinned cupping my testicles, lifting them up a bit stroking them with his fingers I moaned and trembled at the pleasure running into my body, putting my hands on Blood’s back running my fingers down his back. I’m glad I considered trimming my nails before visiting him during dates or I might have punctured his back with my nails!

I groaned when he released his hand but he pressed his penis next to mine rubbing them together, I moaned at the sensation as we rubbed our genitals together.

I raised myself pushing him up, his eyes widened as I pressed my hand and chin to his chest smiling at him, I want to give him as much pleasure as he is giving me.

I sucked on his neck angling myself so my fang doesn’t touch him and cut his neck, lowering to his collarbones earning a moan from him.

I lowered one of my arms to his penis touching the tip with my fingers, he seems to like this sensation I am giving back to him as his moan got louder, I lowered my hand to grip the upper half of his hard penis lowering until I reached his testicles earning even more moans from him.

I reached to cup his testicles, they are soft compared to his penis... I grasped them on my hands “S-stop that” he said.

“Huh?” I released my mouth off his collarbone.

“Just stop for now...”

I sigh pulling my hand out he pushed me back to the pillows as our chests and stomachs pressed closely together, we did nothing just taking in each other’s warm bodies.

However he a few seconds later he got his body off me to get the hand lotion by the tissue box. I realize something...

“Do you have a condom in your house?” I asked.

Blood shook his head frowning suddenly “Mom and Dad doesn’t have sex anymore since they broke up so they never bought any condom and they don’t allow minors in the sex shop, you have to get it yourself.”

I got out of the bed when I realize something, Dad is in town, what if he sees me getting a condom? He will ask me why I bought it for and he won’t stop until he finds out.

I shook my head “Sorry but I can’t, what if Dad finds me wandering into town to a sex shop? He will try to find out what I’m using it for!”

“What do we do then? We can’t risk our lives over a night of pleasure, what if one of us have AIDS? We shouldn’t do this!”

“...Let’s just do this anyway.”

“W-what?”

“I want to do this with you, let’s do it even if it means risking our lives.”

He stared at me with his mouth wide open I spread my legs apart lifting my hips up slightly to expose my butt hole, he sat on the gap looking at my hole.

“It’s so small...” he said.

“D-do you think it will f-fit?”

Blood cocked his head unscrewing the cap off the bottle, pouring the lotion onto his fingers and my butt.

I screwed my face gritting my teeth when his finger went inside of me, it’s pretty uncomfortable to have something inside that tight area, I wonder how his penis is gonna fit in.

His free hand is also touching the area near my hole moving upwards until it reached my tail just a few inch above the hole, he hummed stroking my tail “So that’s where your tail is attached to...”

I hissed when he inserted another finger, his free hand wandered off to my butt squeezing it “Your butt is so flat...” he said.

I groaned as he moved his fingers before adding one more finger inside moving that as well, he released his hand off my butt putting it my skinny hip as the movement becomes less painful.

All three fingers were eventually out of my hole and Blood pressed his body onto mine with the tip of his penis grazing on the entrance of my hole, I shut my eyes stretching my hips waiting for that moment where we take our virginities away, our bodies meet together and we share everything we have in a world of pain.

My eyes opened when I realize his tip is still grazing on my hole “Blood?”

“I-I don’t want to hurt you Kleude, what if you get hurt from this? I don’t want you to be frightened!” one of his hand is on the tip of my penis touching the slit with a finger.

I sigh lifting my hips a bit so his tip went inside my hole, it was a bit painful but so is his fingers when he was stretching me “I love you Blood and I want to give everything I can to you.”

He stared at me putting his hands on my waist lowering himself, I gasped when he went deeper into my body, tears flowed down my face. It hurts so much...

“Oh god I’m so sorry Kleude!” he pressed his lips into mine. I latched my hands on his back as the tears still flowed down.

He was groaning as he tried to adjust to me, the pain eventually subsided and I stopped crying “It’s okay I’m fine now...” I lowered my hands to his butt squeezing it to indicate he can continue.

Blood gasped pulling himself out before thrusting again, it was painful just like the first one, I gritted my teeth hissing as he stayed inside of me to let me adjusting again, my tears continued to flow, does Mom and Dad really feel like this during sex? I don’t know how vaginas are like to tell but I’m amazed they can do it even after having all Jet, Sarah and I.

Blood is also groaning as he tried to get used to this, it must be pretty painful and tight for him but in my head I want to go all the way to really give him my body by giving him the biggest thing I possibly can.

Like the first one, the pain eventually faded to something more pleasurable and my tears stopped flowing, he pulled out before repeating again.

After a few more thrusts the pain subsided more and more and something numbingly pleasant appeared as Blood thrust into my body groaning as he entered me, he’s clearly enjoying himself as well. I raised my hips up so he can thrust deeper into my body.

We moaned in pleasure as he thrusts faster, this pleasurable sensation creeping all over into my body, it feels so good to have his penis inside of me, striking as deep as possible especially when I lifted my hips up so he can feel more of me.

However suddenly there is a very unpleasant feeling, I gasped opening my eyes.

“What’s the matter?” he stopped moving, looking at my face.

“What was that?”

“I think that’s your prostate... I remember reading about how pleasu-”

“Don’t touch it!”

“But the books I read said that lots of men like it even if it’s pai-“

“Well I don’t like it.”

“Okay...” he pulled out and thrust in again, this time that feeling didn’t appear.

His pace was getting faster as he thrust deeper and deeper inside of me, I clutch his shoulders screaming from all the pleasure he gripped my hips screaming as well, we tried to kiss each other to silence each other.

Blood lifted his arms away from my hips while we are kissing to stroke my face, I did the same for him, fingering his face as our bodies got closer.

When we pulled away from the kiss, Blood’s hands moved to my hair going down to where it ends at my shoulders before gripping on the sides of my chest before lowering to my waist, I also released my hands to grip on his back.

Eventually there is the strange feeling on my testicles, it’s just like the moment earlier when we were just sucking on each other, I realize it won’t be long until my penis began to spill that white liquid again again.

I opened my eyes to look at Blood, he’s still screaming as he thrust into me, I tried to hold myself out a bit longer so he can enjoy himself longer touching me the way he did.

However I eventually groaned as I felt myself getting flaccid and semen began to drip all over my penis and my stomach and the pressure returning to my head, Blood’s moan are getting rather strained by now but he stopped suddenly, some of my sperm flew to his stomach as well...

“Should I stop?”

“Just continue it’s not over until both of us are really done...” I groaned.

He cocked his head continuing his thrusts when he groan and his sperm went inside of me I moaned at the liquid on my hole taking it all in as he pulled himself out.

We really done it I never thought it could go so far but we had sex and taken our virginities to each other!

Blood was climbing on top of me with his arms around my neck, he looks rather worried.

“I didn’t hurt you did I?” he asked.

“No...”

He smiled getting some tissues to get rid of the liquid on our bodies.

After cleaning us up and getting rid of the tissues he put his arms around my neck, I gasped as our penises rubbed together, we kissed each other during then.

OoOoOoO

“Hey you two get your butts over here! You got some explaining to do!” my eyes widened its Jet!

“S-should we get dressed?” Blood asked.

“We should, we shouldn’t flash our bodies in front of my brother.”

After we managed to salvage our clothes on the floor and got changed we got the door, I felt a sharp pain on my legs and found it difficult to walk.

Jet, Sarah and Ariel are right in front of us, Jet looks absolutely pissed off as Sarah clung to his arm.

“So what were you doing big brother?” he asked, his voice is dangerously low...

“I-I”

“Why were big brother and his friend so loud?” Sarah asked.

“Err they were enjoying themselves...” said Ariel.

“What were they doing?”

“Err...”

“Sarah we need to talk to Kleude alone” said Jet.

“Why?”

“Because what we are going to talk about is something you shouldn’t know.”

Sarah cocked her head before walking down stairs.

“W-why did you return? I thought all three of you were going home” I said.

“To get a textbook from Blood that he borrowed from me last week.”

“How long were you here?”

“Well the first thing I heard was you yelling something along the line of sexual intercourse and then there were a lot of screaming” he frowned “ I thought you have a girlfriend?” he stopped when he realize something “Wait now I know why I never saw her...”

“Jet...” Ariel clutched my brother’s arm.

“Have you two ever done this before?”

“No that’s our first time...” I said.

“But how could you be sleeping with your best friend? You are both guys, Mom and Dad always said how bad it is for two people of the same gender to date and boys always date with girls!”

“I’m sorry but I can’t help it but please don’t tell Dad about this...”

“...”

“Don’t tell his father!” Ariel yelled “If he knows he will surely kick your brother out of the house, you don’t want that do you?”

Jet looked at Ariel his frown fading “No, I don’t but how could he be doing this?”

“I don’t even know myself...” I muttered.

“Please don’t be mad at him, Jet” said Blood “It’s not his fault, I kinda asked him to and-“

“He went with it, he wanted it as much as you do” said Jet “But still he’s my brother.”

“Weren’t we supposed to talk to Mrs Maverick as well?” said Ariel.

“Oh yeah I forgot about it when I realize what my brother was doing, come on let’s talk to her before we get home or Dad will wonder where we are-“

“There you are!” a loud voice yelled, I think my heart skipped a beat, Dad!

Dad arrived with a big frown on his face staring at everyone holding Sarah’s hand.

“All of you are late, don’t you know you are all suppose to head home by 10 in the night? Its 11 now!”

“We are sorry we just lost track of time” I said.

“Come on kids it’s time to go home.”  
I tried to walk but it’s painful to move, Dad looked at me and frowned “You are limping!”

“I’m sorry Dad I fell on the floor and...”

He stopped sniffing at me “You smell like hand lotion and semen...”

“E-er...”

“What were you doing!?”

“I-I”

“You must be having sex to smell like hand lotion and semen down there.”

“I-I...”

“We need to talk young man, I can tell you done something with your friend over there” he pointed to Blood.

My face went white as he dragged me away.

“Wait Mr Fleming!” Blood yelled “Please punish me as well, I made him do this!”

Dad ignored Blood as he dragged me all the way back home, I have to keep up with his pace but my legs hurt.

“Daddy what happened?” Sarah asked.

“Your big brother will be in very very big trouble when we get back home” said Dad.

I trembled, I can smell bad news from this one that will damage my relationship with Dad even more.


	64. Chapter 64

I shuddered as we sat on the living room, Jet and Sarah are in between Dad wondering what will happen.

Ariel and Blood followed us but Dad refused to let them in, locking them out so they have to watch through the window where they probably have a hard time hearing anything.

“Young man is this what you do every night at his house sleeping with him and dating him behind our back?”

“Yes... but I wasn’t sleeping with him all the time, that was our first-“

“But you are one of those people.”

I nodded.

“How is it possible... what could have turned you into those... those queers?”

“I don’t know but I was never interested in girls.”

“Your friend is a bad influence on you turning you into one of those people!”

“Big brother Jet what is wrong with sharing a bed with your best friend?” Sarah asked.

“He’s not just sharing a bed with Blood” said Jet.

“Then what are they doing?”

“I’ll tell you when you get older.”

“Aww...”

“B-But he didn’t change me I was a-always like that...” I said.

“To think my oldest son is sharing his body to another guy... you are disgraceful.”

“I-I’m sorry Dad I will never do that again...”

“You tainted your body with another man’s.”

“Daddy what do you mean that big brother Kleude is sharing his body with another man?”

Dad ignored Sarah still staring at me “What do you have to say for yourself?”

“I-I’m sorry Dad I shouldn’t have done that and I will never do it again” I said.

“It’s too late for that” he shook his head “You should have never pursued that boy and fallen as far as you did, your mother would be so ashamed if she knew.”

“She does know...”

“What!?”

“I told her... I admitted to her everything.”

“You told Mom?” Jet asked.

“...” Dad was completely silent.

“Dad?”

“You little...” Dad got out of the chair, I stared at him knowing what he will do to me, I shut my eyes as he gave me a slap on my cheek “It’s your fault your mother died.”

“I can’t hide this from her forever-“ I earned another slap on my face.

“She must be torn when she knew you were one of those horrible people” Dad began to shake, all three of us stared at Dad when he suddenly glared at me again “Get out of our house!”

I stared at Dad, I collapsed on his arms, I fought back tears before but now I can’t hold them back anymore as they fell down my face “Don’t kick me out of the house Dad! Sarah and Jet will be devasted and I love this home, I will break up with Blood if I can stay but please don’t kick me out!”

“Please don’t kick him out!” Jet and Sarah yelled.

Dad huffed pushing me away “You are going to be a bad influence to your brother and sister, leave right now!”

Dad looks so hard and unrelenting as he stormed off to his bedroom.

I collapsed on the table crying, I felt two pair of arms around me, I lifted my head off the table, some of my tears dripping on the puddle I just caused.

“I don’t you to leave!” Sarah yelled.

“Dad can’t just kick you out like that, it’s wrong of you to sleep with Blood but...”

“I-I don’t want to hide myself” I said “I don’t to run away from myself and be something I’m not but...” I collapsed on Jet’s arms “I don’t want my family to abandon me! I don’t want to be miserable for the rest of my life!”

“Sarah and I will try to see you if we can...”

I trembled as Sarah put her arms around my head and Jet wiped my tears, I’m not worried about where I will live, I can stay with Blood but Jet and Sarah will be devastated without me and they will have to struggle with keeping the house in good condition with less people around.

“Kleude!” Dad yelled “If you don’t pack stuff and leave by midnight I will drag you out of the house!”

I struggled to pull myself off Jet heading to my bedroom to pack my clothes, supplies, books and money inside a suitcase.

I looked at the metal headband, I’m surprised it’s still in such a good condition after all these years without a scratch, I wrapped a piece of cloth around it before settling it on top of my art supplies shutting the suitcase.

I struggled carrying the heavy suitcase out of the house, Jet and Sarah offered to help me carry the suitcase out of the house.

Outside the house Sarah and Jet put their arms around me.

“We will always love you big brother Kleude!” said Sarah.

“Please take care of yourself” said Jet.

I nodded “But why were you looking for Mrs Maverick anyway?”

Jet looked away, he signalled Sarah to head back into the house “Strap on...” he mumbled.

“Strap on?

“Yeah... I told Ariel she can do what men usually do to women to me when she turns 18 and we wanted to ask Mrs Maverick about how to have sex without hurting ourselves.”

“Wait you are going to” said Blood.

Jet nodded “Yes, I love her so much, I want her to experience how we men do it when we take our virginity.”

“Gees I didn’t think you two would think like that”

Ariel and Jet blushed “Well I told you two what we are going to do now I want an answer, what position was my brother in?”

It’s my turn to turn red now Blood was about to answer when I put a hand on his mouth “I was on the bottom.”

“Okay then” Jet head back home, Blood and Ariel looked at the suitcase.

“Whoa... what’s with the suitcase?” Blood asked.

“...”

“Did your father disown you?”

I nodded attempting to fight back my tears, I have to be brave now.

“You can stay at my house, you can sleep on my bed.”

“No he can stay on my house” said Ariel “My family has a guest room and we make sure to get nice comfy beds for anyone who stays over.”

I looked at Blood and Ariel, who do I pick? They are so willing to help me, but I don’t want to burden either of them yet I know they don’t want me to live on the streets and I’m grateful but who do I pick?

Ariel has done so much for my family and tried to help me, I feel like I’m burdening her by living with her.

Blood has always been there for me no matter what but I feel so guilty to live with him now and I might have passed a disease to him(or he might have given it to me, I really need to see a doctor tomorrow to get my body checked) from when we had sex.

“Don’t stress yourself” said Ariel “If you pick Blood, I won’t mind.”

“And if you pick Ariel I’m fine as well” said Blood “But we don’t want you sleeping on the streets like beggar.”

I shifted my head deciding who to pick, I bit on my nails, now having grown about half an inch.

When I finally decided I raised my head to look at them “I will stay with Blood” I said.

Ariel nodded “Okay I hope you two have a comfortable time together” with that she headed back home.

Blood and I headed back to his house but we didn’t hold our arms “I’m sorry for getting you kicked out” he said.

“No it’s my fault, I agreed to do this with you” I said.

“But we could have waited for a year, I was too impatient and I know that you hate the idea of sex and-“

“I was getting impatient too but I didn’t realize it a-and...” I began to cry again.

“Don’t cry Kleude, it’s not your fault all of this happened!”

“I-I will miss e-everyone at home, I love them so much!”

“I’m sure your family still cares about you” he wiped my tears away “your nose is dripping”

“I-I j-just want to b-be able to sleep in peace and not worry what will happen anymore, I don’t want to be miserable forever, I just want to be able to do something for everyone around me without burdening them!”

“You were never a burden to Ariel and me.”

I looked up inhaling my runny nose.

“I’m sure Jet and Sarah thinks the world of you as well, I will always love you no matter what.”

“But I’m just a useless loner...”

“I love everything about you, even your many many flaws.”

I looked up at him as he wiped my nose with his palm “I love you for everything too, you might be too rash and loud but that’s okay...”

He smiled lifting my hair off my shoulders, pressing his mouth against mine, I took in the kiss, pressing my lips as well.


	65. Chapter 65

7/9/2013

It’s been three months since Dad disowned me and I stayed at Blood’s house. I owe him for what we did then but he always insisted I never owe him anything even if we got infected with something.

I decided to get my body tested for any viruses the day after I got kicked out, to my relief I do not have AIDS or STD, both of us aren’t carrying any strange viruses after all(And I’m glad he didn’t ask anything about why I was getting myself tested).

I said I would sleep on the couch but Blood refused offering me to sleep on his bed, I wouldn’t let him sleep on the floor so we have to cuddle up on the bed together.

We never had sex anymore, deciding to wait until Blood is at least 18, I feel guilty that I had sex with a minor and agreed to do that with him knowing this even if he insisted he was ready he is still only 17 I should have never agreed to this.

I do know that, our sex back then will not be our last though, it was felt wonderful(if painful at first and the numb on my legs that last for hours) to have him inside of my body and I manage to satisfy him as well as we touch each other trying to please one another.

Jet and Sarah do see me when I have to go to town to get some supplies from time to time, they sometimes say how much they miss me and they want me back home but Dad refuses saying that I have been dirtied, sometimes I encountered Dad but he will always turn away as soon as he sees me but he seems upset when he looks at me for some reason.

But even when Dad is off station there is a warning on the entrance of the house that if I ever get in he will ground Jet and Sarah so they cannot let me in even if they want to.

Today I headed outside of the house to relax on the park with my sketch book and a book to read.

When I arrived at the park I sat on an empty bench to work on my comic. I’m amazed that high school one managed to not get cancelled at this point!

I looked at my sketch book, the editors said I can end it after five volumes, I want to do my own idea but somehow I’m enjoying writing this one a lot, I’ll write more chapters until next year.

I gasped when a foot suddenly landed on my tail screaming on top of my lungs.

“Whoa sorry, I didn’t see your tail on the ground!” a loud voice yelled, my eyes widened as I rubbed on my injured tail, Mr Byrnes!

“Mr Bian!”

“Hey you are that kid who is always sitting away all alone in a corner! Kleude Fleming is it?”

“...” I turned my head away as he sat on the bench.

“Nothing is wrong with that, if you want to be alone that’s fine.”

“Thank you Mr Byrnes...”

“So how are you? Are you in college?”

I shook my head “No sir, it’s pretty hard to manage to manage money as it is and anyway...”

“You don’t want to endure dealing with bullies anymore?”

“How did you know?”

“You kinda remind me of her.”

“Mr Byrnes is that what inspired you to talk about bullying?”

“Yeah.”

“...”

“How are you anyway? You look so gloomy.”

“...”

“Do you want to talk about it? It’s okay if you don’t want to tell though.”

“I got kicked out of my house.”

“What!?”

“My father found out something I’ve been hiding from him for years that he disapproves of.”

“What did you do? Are you on drugs? Have a drinking habit?”

“I’m gay.”

“Oh.”

“I wish I could do something about this but I can’t!”

“You cannot do anything about your sexuality, it will always be there no matter what you do, but why does your father disapprove of it?”

“Boys must have girls since we must reproduce and it is not right for boys to want boys and girls to have girls since it means something is wrong with them.”

“Nothing is wrong with it, your father is wrong, if that’s how you are it’s okay.”

“He will never believe that.”

“But still you shouldn’t have to hide yourself no matter what unless it’s something that will hurt other people or yourself.”

My ears drooped “I just want to be able to go back home and be with my family even though someday I will leave to be with-“ I interrupted myself, I don’t want to start rambling.

“Well I hope it turns out well for you” he got up to continue jogging around the park.

I sigh continuing my sketching, doing about eight pages somehow.

After this I got out to return home.

On the way I encountered a very familiar blonde dressed in a business suit when it occurred to me it’s Moton! So he must have gotten a job after he got rejected.

I tried to walk past me when he yelled “Cat ears!”

I turned my head to face him, he’s not going to pull my ears or tail is he? “Y-yes?”

“...I’m sorry...”

“W-what?”

“I should have never snapped at you when I know perfectly well you are studying hard and trying to deal with those other kids picking on you for not being what they want you to be. And I’m wrong for wanting to be so perfect all the time, I should have known it doesn’t matter if I make a bit of mistake and not everyone will be perfect.”

“...”

“It’s what cost me my dream to be a doctor helping everyone. Maybe I’m not fit to be a doctor after all” he sigh walking away.

I wonder how the other three are, Leslie is taken away to get treatment for her mental illness for three years now and I never saw Eku or Taro since high school ended.

Red is three years down the grave and I never saw his family anymore to know if they ever got over his death.

It still frightens me how he died, I didn’t know if I had AIDS at all but luckily I don’t and neither does Blood. It would have been dreadful if we infected each other.

When I headed back home, Blood is studying with Ariel and Jet in his room, I never like bothering them when they are studying, they do want to get good grades during their finals but they always relax after studying.

I just sat down on a corner to read a book, playing video games even on mute could distract them and anyway I prefer reading.

After they are done we decided to hang out doing something.

“So what shall we do?” Jet asked.

“We could watch some TV” said Ariel.

“Cool I hope Sonic X is on TV” said Blood.

“That show is great” said Jet.

“Yeah, best show ever!”

“I prefer Journey to the sky but it’s okay” said Ariel.

“Let’s watch some TV then!” with that Blood marched to his living room with all of us following behind.

Unfortunately when Blood tuned to where Sonic X usually air it turns out Winx club is on air instead.

“Boo I hate that stupid girly magic girl show” he yawn switching channels.

“Hey isn’t that the title to Journey to the sky?” Jet asked.

“Yeah but something seems a bit off” said Ariel.

“The music is different!” I said “Less rock and more calming.”

“Such a soothing music...”

We realize the footage is also different after the first few seconds.

After the opening ended there was the recap about what happened on the last episode and we realize something, Pooly has a scratchier more boyish voice and is speaking in Japanese!

Lucky for us there are subtitles.

“But the words seem pretty different” said Blood.

“Yeah Pooly seems a bit ditzier in here” said Jet.

“Aquila sounds pretty similar though” said Ariel.

We realize it’s one of the episodes Pooly is bonding with Aquila, but there’s some difference with the English CDs, Aquila has a lot more sombre implications and there are blood during battles.

When the episode ended after Pooly and Aquila defeated the monsters and decided to relax on a spring while in the real world Pooly grandpa wonders where Pooly and Aquila are, the credits rolled.

“Man this music is so much better than the English one” said Blood.

The credits listed Mayumi Tanaka as Pooly, Emi Shinohara as Aquila and Ryo Horikawa as Granger.

“That is a bit of an interesting experience” said Ariel.

“Should we get the original copy?” Blood asked.

“Sure if we can find the original copies.”

“What’s next anyway?” I asked.

“Yu Yu Hakusho” said Blood.

“Is it any good?” Ariel asked.

“Oh you will all enjoy this!”

We watched TV until Jet’s curfew one hour later.

“I got to go now” he said “It’s getting late.”

I looked at Jet, he seems to be trying to bear with the fact I’m disowned with stride but I can tell he’s upset about it.

I looked at the scar on his cheek, he doesn’t seem to be too angry about having it despite what happened to cause the scar and it’s still pretty noticeable, it will be a few years before it fades completely.


	66. Chapter 66

10/12/2013

Tonight I worked on my manga while Blood is studying for his exams, he still has a few more days before it’s officially over for him.

“Ah I’m done...” he groaned stretching his arms “Now I want a quick hot shower...”

When I’m done with five pages, I put the sketchbook down and began to read some books.

I was finishing up Shakugan no Shana when Blood suddenly screamed on top of his lungs and jumped on top of me.

“Gees Blood you are wet!” I yelled, putting the book aside, I blushed at the sight of him nothing but a towel wrapped from the waist down.

“Hey there Kleude!”

“Get off me, you are soaking my pants!”

“You have pretty eyes.”

“Whatever just get off me” I can’t help but notice that he has a bulge on his crotch though but we really shouldn’t have sex again until Blood isn’t a minor anymore.

He sigh getting off me, I groaned getting some tissues to get some of the water off my pants.

I was about to toss the tissue when Blood pounced on me, this time fully dressed.

We just stared at each other when he lowered his face, pressing his lips to mine, we shut out eyes as our tongues slid to each other’s mouths as we lapped each other lifting and curling about.

When we pulled about our mouth is dripping with a bit of saliva so I have to wipe our mouths clean.

“Shall we play some video games tonight?”

“Sure, how about some Mario Party 4?”

“Okay!”

We set up the Gamecube and wait for Ariel and Jet to arrive after they finish their studies.

They arrived a few minutes later with Sarah but to my surprise behind them is Dad!

I trembled hiding behind Blood, what does he want to do with me?

However Dad doesn’t seem to be angry as he approached me.

I slowly let go of Blood, approaching Dad “W-what is it?” I asked.

“Kleude we need to talk” his voice is unusually and not harsh at all, he only uses this tone to Mom and Sarah.

“You are not going to tell more bad news to him are you?” Blood asked “He got enough as it is.”

“It’s been so long since that moment, I realize something my son...” he stopped putting his hands on his face.

“D-dad are you c-crying?”

“I love you so much, I want you to be happy and safe that’s why I tried so hard to make you change your ways so you won’t be hurt.”

“I don’t care I don’t want to hide myself Dad, I just want to be me and I’m sure Jet and do not hide themselves so why just me?”

“I realize it was wrong to make force you to be something you are not, it’s not saving you from more unhappiness, its making you even more unhappy.”

“Dad...”

“All of us miss you so much, the family felt empty when your mother died but it felt even more hollow when you left.”

“So c-can I return home?”

Dad nodded his head.

“B-but I’m one of those people you despise so much-“

“Kleude it doesn’t matter anymore, if that’s how you feel I cannot change it and I will accept it.”

I stared at Dad, is he really forgiving me and accepting me for who I am? The worthless first child who did nothing but disappoint him?

I began to tremble, so Dad is really accepting me in spite of all of this? I am so happy to be back with my family again, I love being with Blood but I just want to be able to hang out with my family and stay just a little longer even if all of us will move out eventually.

I burst into tears putting my arms around Dad “D-Dad thank you!”

“Gees you’re crying again...”

“But I’m so happy, Dad I love you!”

Dad sigh ruffling my hair, I gasped when two pair of arms put themselves around me.

“Welcome home big brother” said Jet.

“It’s good to see you again!” said Sarah.

I sigh yanking myself off Dad to hug them.

After a moment of embracing with my family I packed up my stuff to go back home.

I turned to look at Blood and Ariel, they have been so kind to offer to let me stay when I was kicked out.

They are smiling at me.

I smiled back while I was shutting the case.

When I got everything ready to head back home, Blood and his Mom waved goodbye to me while Jet, Dad and Ariel helped me to carry some of the luggage.

I thanks them before heading off.

I looked back at Blood’s house.

“What’s wrong Kleude?” Ariel asked.

“Blood... I owe him so much for staying in his house...” I said.

“You don’t owe him anything, he will do anything for you without any reward!”

“...” I dropped my luggage rushing back to Blood’s house.

“Kleude!”

I grabbed Blood’s arm when he was about to head back into his house “Kleude what are you doing here!?”

“T-thank you for letting me stay over for some long!”

“It’s no problem, you are my friend you know.”

“...” we stared at each other looking at our hands “Blood I know I’m going back home but I won’t be staying there forever you know, all of us will split up in the future someday and...”

“You mean.”

“Yes someday we will both be together for the rest of our lives but until then I want to be with my family for just a few more years until Sarah is old enough to go to college.”

“When you do let’s get married in private.”

“Blood...”

“Your brother and Ariel will marry in the future right? Let’s do the same thing as well!”

I sigh nuzzling on his head.

He raised himself trying to reach my lips for a kiss.

When we broke apart Blood grinned “Even if I have to leave Astterica for college, I’ll try to see you if I can.”

I nodded heading back to where everyone was waiting for me.


	67. Chapter 67

30/10/2014

Everything has been peaceful since Dad forgiven me, it’s the one thing I really want, to be able to sleep in peace without worrying what will happen day after day.

Everyone had to leave Astterica for college but they try to visit when they can to see their family and friends for now it’s mostly just Sarah and me living together trying to manage the house, Dad stopped coming back so often to work.

Today everyone is back to celebrate Ariel’s birthday, Jet is not at home to get something for her.

I was about to finish the final chapter of the manga I have been working on for almost two years now, I’m satisfied with how things goes.

After I got done with the final page, I slammed the book shut, time to go get Ariel something for her birthday.

Outside the house I decided to stop by Mom’s grave.

I picked some flowers on the field near the grave to put by her graveyard “Mom I hope you are happy in heaven... everyone is now, I hope what I told you didn’t hurt you forever” I said getting up to continue my way.

I headed to town wondering whether to go to the bookstore or the toy shop, Ariel still has a soft spot for cute dolls and fairy tales.

On the way a girl with long dark brown hair passed by, I swore she looks familiar.

I was about to pass by when someone yelled “Leslie!”

Oh wait... I looked at the girl, Leslie is out already?

I watched as two people, a girl with short black hair and the other a fat man with purple hair were approaching Leslie.

Eku must have gotten a haircut...

“Oh Leslie is that really you?” Eku asked.

“Yep!” Leslie yelled.

“Are you discharged from the House?”

She shook her head “I still have to visit the house but I can go out now.”

“Thank god...” the girls hugged each other.

“Gees you two are like lesbiens...” said Taro.

“Quite Taro!”

“So how are you two?” Leslie asked.

“We are still in college, in another few years we will graduate.”

“Though I will graduate first” said Taro.

“Hey when both of you are working I might be fully discharged, then and maybe try to get a job” said Leslie.

They smiled, I tried to walk past them when I felt familiar slim fingers on one of my ear, however this time she didn’t pull my ears.

“Hello Kleude” said Eku.

“Hey it’s pretty kitty” said Leslie.

“You still look pretty after all these years.”

I frowned as she sigh letting go of my ear.

“We are sorry...” said Eku.

“Huh what’s going on?” Leslie asked.

“Apologize to him.”

“Oh” Leslie bowed to me “Sorry Mr Kitty!”

“It’s wrong of us to treat you like that, we should have known that you can’t change who you are and not everyone is the same but we are just so stubborn.”

“Yeah sorry for everything we did to you” said Taro.

“Apologies accepted” I said.

“Gees if only Red was still around though.”

“I doubt he’d cared” said Eku “He never ever cares.”

“So what shall we do now?” Leslie asked “I still got two hours before I have to visit the House again.”

“How about we go and play on the arcades?”

“Okay!”

As all three of them headed off, I sigh in relief deciding to go to the bookshop.

I looked through the kids book section, Ariel already has a lot of fairy tales but maybe there is one she doesn’t?

I stopped at a book thicker than most fairy tales called oriental fairy tales, I picked up the book looking into it, most of these don’t look familiar. I will get it for her.

“Mommy look this woman is reading kiddie books!” said a little boy.

“Maybe she is getting it for a younger brother or sister” said a woman.

I blushed closing the book getting up to pay for it.

I headed back home to wrap up the gift.

“Ooh is that for Ariel?” Sarah asked.

I nodded getting some strings to tie up the present.

Jet returned home with a tiny box.

“Hey big brother Jet!” Sarah yelled.

“Welcome home” I said.

“...” Jet sat down on the cushion looking at the little box.

“Gees that is a small present...”

“...”

“What’s in it?”

“You will know tonight when you and Blood head to Ariel’s house, but for now I have to go.”

“Already?”

He nodded getting out of the house.

I cocked my head, is he going to take his and Ariel’s virginity away before Blood and I arrive?

When evening passed Blood arrived to wait until its night time where we go meet up with Jet and Ariel in Ariel’s home.

“Hey there Sarah” said Blood.

“Mr Spikey hair!” Sarah cheered.

“We are gonna head to Ariel’s big fancy house tonight to celebrate her eighteenth birthday!”

“Yay!”

“That would make all of us all grown up...” he sniffed.

“I want to grow up too!”

“You will in a few years but I really wish all of us were kids again...” he looked at me “But still it’s wonderful to experience more things that kids cannot do.”

“I’ll grow up nice and big like my big brothers!”

“You are still much shorter than we are when we were your age missy” I said, giving her a noogie.

“Big brother what does Daddy mean when he said that you are sharing your body with Mr Spikey hair?”

Both of us stared at Sarah red faced “Y-you will find out when you’re older!” said Blood.

“Aww... everyone is always telling me that!”

“Just wait in two years, you will understand” I said.

“Okay!”

I smiled patting her head we played with dolls until night time passed and we head to Ariel’s house.

I picked up the present and noticed the book we tried to write on a corner, should I show it to everyone when we head to her house? We are all grown up now...

I held the book on one arm, with the gift on another arm.

On the way Sarah clung onto me, I stumbled down dropping both books on the ground.

I picked up the gift and was about to pick up the other book when a little girl grabbed it.

“Hey is this your book Miss Kitty?” the girl asked.

I nodded.

“Can I read it?”

“Sure...”

She smiled, opening the book, after she finished she smiled even more “That is so good! It’s like a fairy tale!”

“W-what?” my ears twitched.

“I want to see more from you Miss Kitty!” as she skipped past me I wondered to myself, is this how people feel when they read something they like?

Inside her house Jet and Ariel greeted us, they are dressed although their clothes are a bit wrinkled and the blanket on the bed is also wrinkled and there’s a bundle of crumpled tissues and what looks like a plastic in the shape of a penis on the thrash.

“Happy birthday Ariel!” said Blood and Sarah.

“Many happy returns of the day” I said.

“Thank you” said Ariel.

I noticed there is a ring on her finger, it has a little blue dragon carving on it.

“I got a ring for Ariel” said Jet.

“How did you manage to get a ring?” I asked “Aren’t they very expensive?”

“Its costume jewellery, they are much cheaper than real ones.”

“Oh...”

“So what shall we do tonight?”

“How about some video games?” said Ariel.

“So what shall we play this time?” Blood asked.

“How about Bomberman Battles?”

We agreed setting up the PS2 to play Bomberman Battles with Sarah watching us.

We picked Battle mode with Blood as Racer, me as Pretty(though I never really like this version of Pretty Bomber always getting kidnapped but still this game has no plot so I can pretend she’s the evil one), Ariel as Shiro and Jet as Ao, we set it to five rounds on random.

Unfortunately Jet isn’t very good so he got eliminated very early on many rounds, Blood also finds it overwhelming later to figure out where the blast of every bomb will go to so Ariel and I won most of the matches.

In the end I won with Ariel winning three rounds, Blood one and Jet zero.

We sigh heading for the next mode, tennis with the same characters on battle mode on team mode on the grassy field.

Unfortunately I am not good on what swing to use so I ended up with a few fowls hampering Blood and me at times, in the end Ariel and Jet won while Blood and I never even scored a match point.

“I’m sorry Blood...” I said.

“It’s okay you did your best even though you are not experienced in sports” he said stroking one of my ears.

The next is golf, this time everyone plays separately instead of being stuck in a team. We picked spring since it’s easier for Ariel and me since we are bad at golf.

Blood managed to score a lot of Eagles, Jet is on par or birdie while Ariel and I have to struggle to even get on par.

However during the final game baseball we have to split it into two runs one with Blood against Ariel and one with Jet against me.

Blood defeated Ariel very easily and Jet managed to beat me after a lot of struggling from the both of us from getting so many strikes.

We sigh shutting off the PS2, that’s enough gaming for one day...

I looked at the others laughing and talking, I grabbed our old book, are they willing to read it again now?

I slammed the book on the ground.

“Hey isn’t that the book we once written on?” Blood asked.

I nodded “I just want to show the one piece of our childhood now that all of us are grown up, after all weren’t we supposed to reunite with this book when we are all eighteen?”

They nodded as I opened the book and all of us including Sarah began to read it, it was corny and badly written yet somehow memories of our childhood began to flash.

The others must be thinking the same thing but I would have loved being a child again, ignorant and carefree about the future with Mom around alive, happy and smiling at all of us.

But still all of us have to go on with our lives, at the very least it will not be a life of misery and pain, we will get to be with each other and those we love in the end but for now the others have studies to do.

But by a few years everyone will be working in Astterica again and Sarah will grow up even more finishing high school and maybe going to college while the rest of us will be together with our loved ones and each other.

The End

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It's been fun writing this but alas it has to end somewhere. I feel like it could have been better at some spots though
> 
> Hasta la Vista I will return someday with another fanfic for the game again this will not be my last!

**Author's Note:**

> Okay so I have to reveal the truth, it was originally planned with Ariel as the MC but since my last fic starred her and another fic is starring Blood, Kleude(my favourite character) should get the limelight this time.
> 
> Also Jet is not the official name of Kleude's brother but his original one is very hard to say without sounding awkward


End file.
